annual report1-final.qxd - Overseas Indian

Pravasi Bharatiya 

DIVAS 

PROCEEDINGS 

7-9 January 2006, Hyderabad

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 




C o n t e n t s 

Introduction 2 

DAY 1 

Inaugural 3 

Plenary I: Defining a Diaspora Agenda 6 

Roundtable 1 9 

Plenary II: Diaspora Partnership in Healthcare 10 

Plenary III: Remittance Services 13 

DAY 2 

Plenary IV: Interactive Session with the States 15 

Parallel Sessions with States 18 

Andhra Pradesh 

Bihar 

Gujarat 

Jammu & Kashmir 

Karnataka 

Kerala 

Maharastra 

Rajasthan 

Tamil Nadu 

West Bengal 

Plenary V: Indian Diaspora Knowledge Network 29 

Plenary VI: Diaspora and Culture 31 

DAY 3 

Parallel Sessions 32 

Indians in the Gulf 

Gender Issues of the Diaspora 

Diaspora Youth 

Opportunities in Education 

Assisted Living 

Commemorating the Diaspora 

Panel Discussions 42 

Diaspora and Political Discourse 

Reporting on the Diaspora 

Communal Harmony and Secularism 

Plenary VII: Diaspora Philanthropy 46 

Roundtable 2 48 

Plenary VIII: Skilling India: A Window of Opportunity 49 

Valedictory 50 

Annexure 1: Programme schedule 51 

Annexure 2: What delegates said 55 

Annexure 3: List of speakers 56 

PAGE NO.

Introduction 

India is a vibrant nation of many cultures, religions, 

languages, and regions. The invisible 

thread that holds this heterogeneity together 

is Indian-ness. This, as the Prime Minister, Dr. 

Manmohan Singh, reminded us last year, is an idea 

whose time has come. Diasporas are both the products 

and the drivers of globalization. The Indian 

diaspora, estimated at 25 million and spread over 

110 countries across the globe, is an important 

player in this process. 

The 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), 2006, 

held in Hyderabad from January 7 to 9, 2006, was 

aimed at bringing the knowledge, expertise and 

skills of the vast and diverse overseas Indian community 

on a common platform. It sought to shape 

an agenda for a symbiotic relationship between 

Indian and its diaspora. The focus was on establishing 

an institutional framework for sustainable 

engagement with overseas Indians. The framework 

would bind together overseas Indians as ‘knowledge’ 

partners, the states of India as ‘stakeholder’ 

partners and the Ministry of Overseas Indian 

affairs as a ‘facilitator’. 

Apart from the inaugural and valedictory sessions, 

this three-day conference had: 

Eight Plenary Sessions on diverse themes like 

knowledge network, philanthropy, culture, remittances 

etc. and an interactive session with the State 

Governments. 

Six Parallel Sessions on specific 

issues, which were of 

interest to sections of the delegates, 

like gender, education, 

youth, overseas employment, 

commemorating the diaspora 

and assisted living. 

Three Panel Discussions on 

political discourse, communal 

harmony and secularism, and 

reporting on the diaspora. 

Two Roundtables to stimulate 

discussions on futuristic 

topics introduced by eminent 

speakers. 

PBD 2006 targeted specific 

outcomes. Outcomes that we 

PBD 2006 aimed 

at bringing the 

knowledge, 

expertise and 

skills of the vast 

Indian diaspora 

on a common 

platform 

2 

Minister of State (In-charge) Oscar Fernandes at the curtain-raiser of the 

4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Hyderabad on January 6, 2006. 

believe, can transform ideas into individual initiatives 

and community action reinforcing dynamic 

India and its diaspora as ‘partners in progress’. The 

key outcomes targeted were: 

! Developing an inclusive agenda for the diaspora. 

! Seeding the idea of diaspora networks and 

drawing up a road map for establishing them. 

! Making the States active stakeholder partners 

in the networks. 

! Developing templates for individual initiatives 

and community action to leverage the knowledge 

and other resources of overseas Indians. 

! Thinking back and looking ahead to outline 

the action plan for meaningful engagement with 

the diaspora round the year and across the globe. 

Over 1,500 delegates (900 overseas and 600 

Indian) from 42 countries 

attended this annual conclave. 

Besides, nearly 300 invitees of 

the Ministry of Overseas 

Indian Affairs (MOIA) and 

Government of Andhra 

Pradesh took part in the sessions. 

These comprised speakers 

and dignitaries from India 

and overseas, senior officials 

and ministers of the Central 

and State Governments. The 

Government of Andhra 

Pradesh was the partner state 

and the Federation of Indian 

Chambers of Commerce and 

Industry (FICCI) was the institutional 

partner. !

Inaugural Session 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas with the traditional lighting of the lamp at the Hyderabad 

International Convention Centre in Hyderabad on January 7, 2006. 

The 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was 

inaugurated at the Hyderabad 

International Convention Centre (HICC) 

on January 7, 2006, by Prime Minister Dr. 

Manmohan Singh with the traditional lighting of 

the lamp. An invocation was performed by 

renowned Carnatic vocalist and Sangeeta Kala 

awardee Nedunuri Krishnamurthi, accompanied 

by artistes on the violin, mridangam and tanpura. 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of 

Overseas Indian Affairs, welcomed the distinguished 

gathering and presented an overview of 

the three-day event. He said that the attempt was to 

make PBD a business-oriented, if not a purely 

business, conference. He stated that the Ministry 

had brought in the dimensions of ‘Working 

Together’ to the idea of ‘Getting Together’ represented 

by PBD. This would spawn partnerships 

between India and its diaspora across various sectors 

and segments. These partnerships would 

assume strategic importance in the years to come 

with India truly in its way to be a global knowledge 

and economic powerhouse and become instrumentalities 

of the exercise of India’s soft power. 

The Secretary then invited the Prime Minister to 

present the first Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) 

documents to two members of the diaspora, 

Nivruti Rai and Iftekar Ahmad Sharif. The documents 

included an OCI card and a multi-entry, lifetime 

visa to India. The PM also released the OCI 

handbook. MOIA Minister Oscar Fernandes then 

released the first issue of the monthly newsletter of 

the Ministry, Overseas Indian, in five languages — 

English, Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati and Malayalam. 

In his address, Fernandes mentioned that the 

Ministry was a young one and its formation 

acknowledged the fact that overseas Indians, estimated 

at 25 million and spread over 110 countries 

in eight major regions of the world, needed mainstream 

attention. He drew attention to the fact that 

the Indian diaspora was a heterogenous group and 

its concerns and needs varied vastly from country 

to country. It was this plurality that gave strength 

to the vast overseas Indian community. The global 

Indian is now gaining recognition for his/her 

knowledge, dedication and strong work ethic. The 

Minister said that India was keen to establish three 

kinds of partnerships: knowledge with professional 

bodies like the American Association of 

Physicians of Indian Origin; institutional partner- 

3


KATHRADA 

stated that this 

initiative was a 

great tribute to 

and recognition 

of the role 

played by the 

people of 

Indian origin 

ship in terms of outreach with bodies like FICCI 

and CII and stakeholder partnerships with the 

states of India. 

Dr. Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy, Chief Minister of 

Andhra Pradesh, expressed his happiness at hosting 

the 4th PBD in the capital city of Andhra 

Pradesh, which is now on the map of the world as 

a truly high-tech city. He said that Hyderabad had 

always been a gateway to the international community 

with a number of doctors, investment 

bankers, IT professionals, entrepreneurs and academics 

working in the State. He mentioned that 

Hyderabad was an important venue and was hosting 

the World Science Congress and many other 

prestigious events in 2006. 

The character of Hyderabad had been of pluralities 

with universal acceptance 

and tolerance for multiple 

religions, ethnicities and 

cultural diversity. He spoke 

of the fast economic growth 

of India, which was now 

next only to Japan and China 

in terms of purchasing 

power. It was second only to 

the U.S. in terms of scientific 

achievement. India was one 

of the leading countries in IT 

outsourcing, managerial and 

technical expertise, and the 

atomic energy programme. 

He also stressed on the need 

to further develop relations 

with China, another growing 

economic partner in the 21st century, which, he 

said, is going to be the Asian century. 

shared cultural and political histories of the people 

of South Africa and India and their common struggle 

against colonial rule. 

He recalled with nostalgia the historic role 

played by Mahatma Gandhi in moulding and 

mobilising the anti-colonial and nationalist spirit 

through non-violence and satyagraha during his 

formative years in South Africa. In his address, he 

highlighted the Mahatma’s mobilisation of indentured 

labour and leading them towards formation 

of the South African Indian Congress. Kathrada 

recalled how, in 1946, the South African Indian 

Congress called upon Indian nationalist leaders to 

break diplomatic relations with the White-ruled 

Government of South Africa. 

The Chief Guest also spoke at length on the historic 

moments of 1994. The 

overthrow of the oppressive 

apartheid regime in 1994 

brought dignity to the people 

of South Africa. The postapartheid 

democratic government 

brought complete religious 

freedom, and liberation 

of women as nearly one-third 

of them entered the democratically 

elected Parliament 

of free South Africa. 

He deplored the global 

expenditure of about $1 trillion 

billion annually on armaments 

and opined that just 

one per cent of such expenditure 

on human welfare would 

ensure progress and development of poor people 

of the world. 

SPECIAL ADDRESS BY THE CHIEF GUEST 

Chief Guest Ahmed Kathrada of South Africa 

paid glowing tributes to the initiatives taken by the 

Government of India (GoI) as well as the State 

Government of Andhra Pradesh in organising this 

historic event. He stated that this initiative was a 

great tribute to and recognition of the role played 

by people of Indian origin (PIO) and their cultural 

bonds with the people of India. He recalled the 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

In his inaugural address, Prime Minister Dr. 

Manmohan Singh observed how Indian values had 

stood the test of time not only in India but also in 

foreign lands. The same values that highlighted the 

spirit of tolerance and compassion also emphasised 

on an uncompromising struggle against oppression 

of every kind. The Prime Minister traced the 

presence of the same spirit and tradition in two 

4





THE Prime Minister 

saluted the overseas 

Indians for their 

work and 

professional ethos 

that have made 

India proud 

persons of Indian origin who had stood up against 

oppression in foreign lands, one no longer in our 

midst and another who was fortunately with us 

and a source of inspiration. He was referring to 

Mahatma Gandhi and Ahmed Kathrada. 

The Prime Minister touched upon the uniqueness 

of Hyderabad and its strategic location in the 

Indian developmental context. He spoke of the 

composite culture of Hyderabad and its traditional 

ethos and yet being in the forefront of all that was 

modern including globalisation. He also spoke of 

the greatness and grandeur of ancient Andhra and 

dealt in particular with its maritime trade. He 

observed how India (particularly Andhra Pradesh) 

was not only noted for trade and commerce but 

also for movement of labour overseas. The phenomenon 

of Indians going abroad was not of recent 

origin but was rooted in history. Consequently, 

today there is a global community of Indians, he 

said. 

The Prime Minister saluted the overseas Indian 

workers and professionals for their contributions 

to their motherland not only in terms of remittances, 

but also for their commitment to work and 

professional ethos that have made India proud. He 

announced several welfare measures for overseas 

Indians, including an improved insurance scheme, 

Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY) 2006, for 

overseas Indian workers commencing from 

February 2006. Also on the anvil is a Diaspora 

Knowledge Network. The issue of granting voting 

rights to NRIs was at an advanced stage of consideration 

of the Government, he said. 

Dr. Singh also invited global students to come 

and study in India. He described India as the “most 

happening place in the world”. He had a word of 

praise for all global Indians particularly those in 

Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan for the 

inestimable role they were playing in these societies. 

He said that the conference should work 

towards arriving at a policy framework for developing 

partnerships in education and devise strategies 

for institutional intervention. He appreciated 

the collaborations of Birla Institute of S&T and 

Manipal Academy of Higher Education with other 

educational institutions around the world. 

Dr. Singh exhorted the Chief Ministers to make 

their respective States more competitive, stating 

that such competition was good for development. 

He anticipated more partnerships of States with 

overseas Indians and institutions. 

VOTE OF THANKS 

Saroj K. Poddar, President of FICCI, proposed the 

vote of thanks. He invited PIOs to join the growing 

Indian economy. He said that by 2025, about 68 per 

cent of the Indian population would join the work 

force by which time many in China would be retiring 

from active labour force. Poddar thanked the 

Governments of India and Andhra Pradesh for 

organising the conference. ! 

5

Plenary Session 1 

S.Krishna Kumar, left, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, and Devesh Kapur, Professor, University of Texas, at the plenary session on 

‘Defining the Diaspora Agenda’ in Hyderabad on January 7, 2006. 

PLENARY SESSION I 

DEFINING A DIASPORA AGENDA 

Chair: 

Oscar Fernandes, 

MOS (IC) 

Opening Remarks: S. Krishna Kumar, 

Secretary, MOIA 

Speakers: 

Prof. Sunil Khilnani, 

Director, South Asia Studies, 

Johns Hopkins University 

Prof. Devesh Kapur, 

Professor, University of Texas 

Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu, 

Minister of Works, Malaysia 

Dr. Prem Misir, 

Pro-Chancellor, 

University of Guyana 

Lalit Mansingh, 

Former Foreign Secretary 

MOIA Secretary S. Krishna Kumar welcomed the 

gathering and stated that the Indian diaspora was 

heterogeneous; therefore, defining the diaspora 

agenda needed addressing the needs of disparate 

groups. The key to this would be to develop location 

specific agendas that would add up to an all 

inclusive diaspora agenda. He emphasised that the 

diaspora was India’s soft power and an agenda that 

helps build partnerships should be the focus. 

Prof. Sunil Khilnani, Johns Hopkins University, 

highlighted the need for branding India. India’s 

brainpower could be exported to the global economy. 

He mentioned that economic and military 

prowess were not enough to ensure security. The 

Indian state and society should be projected properly 

in the global market, he said and added that 

brand identity was associated with soft power to 

articulate India globally so that the weaknesses 

could be transformed into India’s strength. The 

diasporic community could be India’s brand 

ambassadors. The diaspora could help in developing 

its service sector, remove shortages of skilled 

labour and participate in developing its education 

reforms. 

Prof. Khilnani was of the view that India needed 

high quality of education along with diversity. 

Therefore, India has to become a producer rather 

than consumer of knowledge in a global society, he 

said. The new identity in the 21st century would be 

6





based on knowledge. Like the Chinese, India 

would have to collaborate with the rest of the 

world for its future development, he said. 

Prof. Devesh Kapur demonstrated that human 

capital was an important indicator of development. 

Pointing out that the Indian diaspora had access to 

both global and local knowledge, he said it should 

help India to create resources to enter the growing 

demand for higher education. According to Kapur, 

the diasporic community could help in the following 

ways: 

(1) Play a strategic role in streamlining the primary 

education sector and persuade the Indian 

States to provide free and decent primary education. 

(2) The young and the idealist should come to 

India to do voluntary work. 

(3) They could help in improving research 

activities. 

(4) They should help in setting up world-class 

universities. 

Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu argued that India and the 

diasporic community should collaborate in areas, 

which were strategically beneficial to both. He passionately 

pleaded for improving the infrastructural 

facilities in India, to which the Malayasian diaspora 

would contribute immensely. He said that in 

order to modernise India, one needed to modernise 

its roads first. It would create not only freeways but 

also help people from small towns to export. 

He also said that there is a need for a Diaspora 

News Network, not CNN, to connect people of 

Indian origin across the globe. He advocated 

strengthening of higher education, which would 

have a snowball effect on economic development. 

He requested that deliberations of the diaspora 

conferences should be documented and sent out to 

participants. 

Dr. Prem Misir said that the majority of the 

Indian diaspora were average working people. The 

diaspora had grown over a period of more than 

2,000 years and had a unique worldview. A distinction 

should be made between PIOs and the NRIs. 

He felt that the Government had a slant towards 

NRIs and that PIOs tend to be ignored. He cited 

from the history of Guyana and Fiji since 1870s and 

said that the nature of migration had influenced 

the identities of the diaspora. He suggested that 

ethnic identities should be recognised and any 

marginalisation should be prevented. 

He also suggested the following in the context of 

the Caribbean: 

(1) Co-existence of all cultures in the process of 

institution building. 

(2) Linkages with India must be sustained. 

(3) Enlightened Indians must recognise the 

diversity of the Indian diaspora. 

(4) The diasporic Indians should take interest 

in investment in India. 

Lalit Mansingh outlined a common agenda and 

basic principles since the diaspora was so diverse. 

He suggested that there were three broad types of 

diaspora: 

(1) Southern Diaspora 

(2) Western Diaspora 

(3) Communities Diaspora. 

He said that his experience of 41 years with diaspora 

engagements revealed that no matter where 

the diaspora was located, they have tried to achieve 

economic stability, maintain values and cultural 

centres and gradually participate in local politics. 

He pointed out that a common pattern of diaspora 

behaviour makes it easier for us to format a common 

agenda (a common minimum programme for 

overseas). Though, the first effort must be to define 

the items we do not wish to include in the agenda, 

he said. According to him, the following three 

guiding principles would be useful while defining 

a diaspora agenda. He said that 

(1) Nothing should be done to offend local 

sensibilities. 

(2) There should be no interference in the 

country’s internal affairs. 

(3) India’s policy of secularism should not be 

compromised. 

According to him, a common agenda must have 

the following principal objectives: 

! A common pursuit of universal values like 

democracy, human rights, anti-discrimination 

! Major areas of activities — political (there should 

be more political dialogue), economic (more economic 

engagement) and culture heritage (overseas Indians 

7


must consider the Taj or Carnatic music to be their heritage 

and we must assist the diaspora to preserve) 

Q&A 

! There should be a special roundtable later on 

the subject of the agenda of diaspora as there was 

inadequate time to discuss it. 

! Human rights violation of the Indian diaspora 

should be taken note of. 

! Dual citizenship should be rationalised, especially 

in access to educational opportunities by the 

next generation. 

! Road conditions in India should be improved. 

! Indian identity in Fiji should be properly 

maintained. 

! Textbooks should be written for the children 

of the diasporic countries. 

While summing up, Oscar Fernandes said that the 

MOIA would chalk out its programmes taking into 

account the diverse expectations of the overseas 

Indian community. It would take forward the 

process of engagement with the diaspora through a 

series of institutional partnerships. The 

Government would also strive to improve infrastructure. 

Human rights violations against overseas 

Indians would be taken note of without interfering 

in the internal affairs of a country. Expertise from 

the diaspora would be used to strengthen the education, 

health and other social sectors in India. ! 

8

Roundtable 1 

Chair: 

Speaker: 

ROUNDTABLE 1 

INDIA: THE KNOWLEDGE POWERHOUSE 

S. Krishna Kumar, 


Dr. Mohanbir Sawhney, 

Professor of Marketing, 

Kellogg School, USA 

Secretary, MOIA, introduced the roundtable as a new 

input for the conference. Two themes had been selected: 

‘India: The Knowledge Powerhouse’ and ‘India: 

The Economic Powerhouse’. This session, he said, was 

on the knowledge powerhouse on which Prof. 

Sawhney had in the past articulated a few seminal 

ideas. 

Prof. Sawhney referred to his article in Business World 

five years back. He referred to the transition of India 

from a land of fakirs and snake charmers to engineers 

and entrepreneurs. He made a mention of the economic 

dimension and indicated that the knowledge sector is 

likely to grow to about $17.1 billion industry for India 

by 2010 from about $2 billion-plus currently. He 

emphasised that there is a need to move from the BPO 

sector to other aspects of knowledge processing. 

He explained the concept of knowledge density of 

business, which brought higher value addition to our 

abilities. He talked of the 3Ps: People, Processes and 

Products. The people dimension can be seen in practice 

through body shopping and call centre models. There 

is a need to focus now on global delivery models with 

regard to processes. The product should be embedded 

in people and processes, he said. To him, new areas 

such as healthcare, entertainment and law were potential 

areas of the future, stressing the need for marketing 

and how we could turn to diaspora gurus like him who 

had guided world leaders such as Sony and Microsoft. 

Giving examples of global brands such as Windows, 

he also referred to challenges posed by Korean companies 

in consumer electronics and automobiles even in 

countries such as USA. He wanted India to take the cue 

and create world-class brands. 

“Move from India on the inside to India outside,” he 

said. He referred to the potential of Indian companies 

such as Ranbaxy, Ad Labs and Bharat Forge in becoming 

world-class brands. Saying “Reverse the flow of the 

Ganges”, he called upon the gathering to ensure flow of 

products outside. He called for a shift in the mindset of 

Indians to move away from IT to other knowledge 

industries such as genetics and agriculture. The key 

was a transition from “back office operations” to “front 

office operations”. Strategic acquisitions were the first 

step, he said, while referring to Wipro (medical electronics) 

and questioning their strategy and approach of 

not wanting to compete with their clients. 

Prof. Sawhney highlighted the need for a strong intellectual 

property tradition, which would be helpful in 

building copyrights and patents. He called upon the 

Indian diaspora to help reverse brain drain and provide 

guidance in managerial and marketing sectors. They 

could be entrepreneurs and investors and lend their 

expertise in different sectors. Research and consulting 

were two strategic areas in which the academia could 

play a crucial role. 

Q&A 

! J.C. Sharma, former Secretary, MEA, wanted to 

know about using knowledge density to make 

“Bharat” part of “India”. He gave the example of using 

IT in taking orders, which shoemakers in Agra could 

use to design shoes. Prof. Sawhney welcomed this suggestion 

and mentioned personalised manufacture of 

garments as one other possibility by taking advantage 

of labour intensive economies of scale. 

! Another respondent wanted Prof. Sawhney to share 

his ideas with Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Knowledge 

Commission. He also wanted a triangular approach that 

involved policy-makers, entrepreneurs and investors. 

Discussions should go beyond such annual events. 

! A crucial response also came from a delegate 

from Singapore who felt that the maritime sector was a 

key sector, which had to be nurtured. The economic 

clout of the Indian diaspora in some countries needed 

to be translated into political clout, which, he said, to 

some extent was already evident. 

Secretary Krishna Kumar, at the end of the session, 

assured the gathering that the concerns of the delegates 

9


would be addressed in the future. ! 

PLENARY II 

DIASPORA COLLABORATION IN HEALTHCARE 

Chair: 

Opening Remarks: 

Speakers: 


MOS (IC) 



Dr. Vijay Koli, 

President, AAPI 

Dr. S. Balasubramanium, 

Treasurer, AAPI 

Dr. P.S. Sugathan, 

Consultant and Deputy 

Head at National Referral 

Hospital, Brunei 

Dr. Balaji Sadasivan, 

Minister of State for Information, 

Communications and the Arts and 

Health, Government of Singapore 

This session was chaired by MOIA Minister 

Oscar Fernandes. MOIA Secretary Krishna Kumar 

began by saying that, in response to Prime Minister 

Dr. Manmohan Singh’s call “to work towards 

knowledge partnership”, overseas physicians of 

Indian origin needed to work and build partnerships 

in healthcare with India. In order to catch up 

with healthcare in India, there is a need to focus on 

basic health services and strengthen specialised 

services. There was a good deal of work that had 

already been done through five-year plans till the 

9th Five-Year Plan. However, there was a considerable 

gap that had been outlined in the 10th Plan, 

which needed to be worked out and this is an area 

where overseas physicians could contribute, if the 

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had to be 

achieved, he said. 

Dr. Vijay Koli, President, American Association 

of Physicians from India (AAPI), in his presentation, 

mentioned that it was time to celebrate the 

new relationship of AAPI with the Government of 

India (GoI). Giving the profile of physicians of 

Indian origin in the U.S., Dr Koli said that immigrant 

physicians from 27 countries constituted 23 

percent of the existing U.S. physicians and, among 

Dr. Vijay Koli, President, American Association of Physicians from India 

(AAPI) speaking at the plenary session on ‘Diaspora Collaboration in 

Healthcare’ in Hyderabad on January 7, 2006. 

them, Indian physicians accounted for the largest 

number i.e., about 20 percent (as many as 41,235). 

Dr. Koli explained the historical perspective of 

AAPI. In order to address the “discrimination in 

licensing reciprocity”, a small group was formed in 

the 1960s, which got transformed into the prestigious 

AAPI. 

American-Indian teaching and research had been 

facilitated by AAPI through three approaches: 

advocacy, continuing medical education (CME), 

and charity. In the U.S., AAPI strives to promote 

general health among different ethnic groups, he 

said. 

In India, a number of activities have been initiated 

by AAPI as part of the India Health Initiatives 

project, he said. Some of these are: 

! HIV update in Hyderabad (August, 2005) 

! Rural health camp in Karimnagar 

! Artificial limb donation, care and compensation 

! Fifteen charitable clinics in India (nine in the 

U.S.) 

! Proposed mental health care hospital in Tamil 

Nadu 

! Four hospitals in Gujarat, one in 

Maharashtra 

! Zero infant mortality rate for the last six years 

10





in 20 villages in Sambalpur district in Orissa 

! Creation of an army of mental health workers 

! Post-disaster relief and care after the tsunami 

in Tamil Nadu 

Dr. Koli further outlined two major plans of 

AAPI for the future: Indo-U.S. emergency medicine 

summit and strengthening of components of 

medical tourism 

He called for a provision to include an AAPI representative 

in the Indian Council of Medical 

Research (ICMR) as a non-voting member so that 

the American body can participate in the design of 

healthcare programmes. 

Though there is a need to strive towards ‘reverse 

brain drain’, he said that the constraints with GoI 

were that the specialists trained in the U.S., and 

even those holding the PIO card, were not permitted 

to practice in India. As evidence, Dr. Koli pointed 

out that, till date, 42 cases had been rejected by 

the ICMR, including those of PIO cardholders who 

were declared ineligible to take even the screening 

test. 

Given the status of rural healthcare in India (lack 

of infrastructure, basic facilities, skilled personnel, 

technical support) and India’s commitment to primary 

healthcare project (universal, comprehensive, 

effective and affordable healthcare to rural population), 

public-private partnership was the only way 

forward, he said. 

AAPI President 

Vijay Koli, in a 

presentation, 

said it was time 

to celebrate the 

new relationship 

of AAPI with 

the Government 

of India 

This would 

enhance access 

to primary 

healthcare, 

strengthen 

capacity building 

and research 

in healthcare 

and documentation. 

For this 

purpose, AAPI 

would identify 

‘willing states’ 

by 2006. AAPI is 

trying to sign 

memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with two 

States (one with good infrastructure and one without) 

and create a working group by February 2006 

and a group of primary care doctors by April 2006. 

Dr. S. Balasubramanium, the President-elect of 

AAPI, highlighted the fact that India accounted for 

the largest number of fatal accidents. The available 

data at the Sion Hospital, Mumbai, indicated that 

50 percent of the deaths occurred during the first 

four hours of injury. These deaths were neither due 

to lack of hospital services, nor competence of 

physicians but the time spent in transporting the 

injured person to the nearest hospital. Quick transport 

to the emergency/trauma management centres 

was the foremost issue. 

As death rates were phenomenally high in India, 

he talked about the advantages of the U.S. model in 

bringing the patient to the hospital compared to the 

European model (decreased mortality if one 

brought the doctor to patient at the accident site). 

Dr. Balasubramanium emphasised the significance 

of Emergency Medical System (EMS). As a case in 

point, he talked about AAPI’s role in establishing 

EMS in Gujarat and Maharashtra during disaster 

management and neo-natal management. These 

EMS initiatives had been quite successful in bringing 

down mortality rates and the number of users 

of these services had risen steadily. The need to 

have one common three-digit telephone number for 

emergency care across India is urgent, he stressed. 

Dr. P.J. Sugathan from Brunei talked about the 

long-term benefits of investing in successful aging. 

India has come a long way in asking for collaboration 

rather than donation or contribution. He 

attributed advancing old age effects to the similarity 

of pediatrician’s work and hence highlighted 

the collaboration of pediatricians with gerontologists. 

He also talked about the Global Organisation 

of Indians on Gerontology (GOING) and drew 

inspiration from Stephen Covey’s seven habits of 

highly effective people in outlining his seven habits 

for successful aging. 

Dr. Balaji Sivadasan from Singapore compared 

India’s mutual medical recognition system with 

Britain to that of Singapore’s recognition with 

Australia. The only difference was that, it is being 

11


continued in the latter case while it has been 

delinked in the case of India and Britain. The overseas 

physicians of Singapore had contributed to 

several collaborative projects in Delhi and Kolkata 

in the field of radiology and there were competitive 

advantages of free trade agreements. 

There are many doctors of Indian origin in 

Singapore and, in recent years, the number of nurses 

from India is growing too, he said. 

The following questions came up for discussion: 

Given the fact that none of the government clinics 

in rural India worked, and doctors remain 

unavailable, how could the services be improved 

and fatalities minimised What kind of MoU could 

AAPI sign to improve these services 

When people are not happy with allopathic treatment, 

how would one promote allopathy, especially 

when there is time-tested and proven ayurvedic 

and other local systems of treatment 

There is no private hospital, which is ready to 

admit an injured person and also there is no system 

of reimbursement for physicians. Isn’t legal reform 

a basic issue that needs to be taken up immediately 

for trauma/accident care 

In this country, all one needs is Rs 400-1,000 to get a 

driving license. This means more accidents on roads. 

How can AAPI have representation in MCI This 

will mean giving in to a demand of foreign medical 

professionals being allowed into the Indian medical 

system. Questions were also raised regarding 

AAPI’s role in intervening in the developed states 

of India (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat etc.) 

and neglecting other states such as Uttar Pradesh, 

Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. 

Would AAPI like to promote medical tourism in 

India Would that help India more than U.S. 

Dr. Koli answered the questions, saying that India 

was moving towards centres of excellence. Every city 

will gear up if there is some initiative. Rural healthcare 

is a new advent even for AAPI. He expressed the 

hope that GoI and AAPI could successfully contribute 

to improving services in rural health care. 

Dr. Balasubramanium said that legal reform is on 

the anvil under the proposed EMS Act. In India, no 

physician has been accused of negligence till date, 

which infused a lot of confidence in the system. All 

the local stakeholders who have interest should be 

brought in, he said. 

An MoU was signed between AAPI and MOIA to 

enable AAPI to work in primary healthcare in pilot 

12


Finance Minister P. Chidambaram ar the plenary session on ‘Remittance Services’ in Hyderabad on January 8, 2006. 

projects in two States in India to begin with. ! 

PLENARY III 

REMITTANCE SERVICES 

Chair: 

Guest of Honour: 


Presentation: 


MOS (IC) 

P. Chidambaram, 

Minister for Finance, GoI 



Dr. P.J. Nayak, 

Chairman, UTI Bank 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, in his introductory 

remarks, mentioned that Indian overseas 

workers constituted a unique part of the diaspora. A 

World Bank report, ‘Global Economic Prospects’, 

mentioned that remittances of non-resident Indians 

(NRIs) to India were around $21.7 billion in the last 

year. The MOIA felt that remittance is an area of concern, 

which should be attended to immediately. There 

are primarily two concerns: reducing transaction 

costs of remittances and converting the saving potential 

of overseas Indians into investments. The main 

objective of the session was to address these two 

issues. 

Dr. P.J. Nayak, Chairman, UTI Bank, explained the 

process of e-remittance. He identified three areas of 

concern in the remittances by NRIs: speed, cost and 

convenience. Today, technology is playing a vital role 

in improving the banking services, he said. 

Announcing that the UTI Bank has developed a 

remittance gateway, he said that this portal would 

enable NRIs and PIOs to remit money to India to a 

designated account in any of the 14,500 branches, 

operating on Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS). The 

remittance through this gateway could be made at a 

very low cost, in real time from anywhere through 

13


Internet technology. Dr. Nayak, with the help of R. 

Seetaraman, CEO of Doha Bank, demonstrated a 

sample transaction to the audience. 

He then explained the variety of advisory services 

that will be made available through the portal. 

Currently, information is being developed on taxation, 

legal, real estate, financial institutions, mutual funds, 

equity market, and insurance matters. He also emphasised 

that this information is being developed with the 

help of some of the best institutions in the respective 

areas so that the information could be reliable. 

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram formally 

launched the electronic remittance facility. Prominent 

NRI industrialist Hinduja made some suggestions for 

attracting NRI investments. 

The Finance Minister, in his address, observed that 

GoI has firmly anchored economic reforms. The 

Indian economy registered a growth rate of 8.1 percent 

in the current fiscal, from under seven percent a 

year ago. This was possible through various measures 

such as fiscal prudence, rationalising taxes, liberalising 

trade, integrating with the global economy, tight 

control over inflation etc. However more investment is 

necessary in agriculture and irrigation sectors and 

physical and social infrastructure sectors such as 

health and education, he said. 

He said that the Government has undertaken three 

major initiatives: public-private partnership, viability 

gap funding and setting up of the India Infrastructure 

Finance Corporation Limited. GoI identified the public-private 

partnership approach for financing infrastructure 

and has developed a policy on this, he said. 

The Finance Minister outlined a number of initiatives 

to strengthen the regulatory mechanism in the 

banking sector. The Government is also paying 

greater attention to pension and insurance sectors. He 

explained that the financial sector would continue to 

play an important role in the growth of the Indian 

economy. He pointed out that, even after repaying the 

India Millennium Development Bonds worth $5 billion, 

the forex reserves position of India remained 

strong. This showed the strength of the financial market 

in India. Every country is paying greater attention 

to workers’ remittances into their home country, as 

such remittances constituted a major portion of the 

national economy, he said. 

Therefore, the Indian Government has given attention 

to facilitating remittances by NRIs, the Finance 

Minister said. The launch of the gateway is a major 

step in this direction. Finally, he mentioned that when 

other developed countries recognise India as a future 

economic power, Indians also should believe what 

India can become. True to its tradition, India would 

not only develop itself but also help build other 

CHIDAMBARAM said, true to its tradition, 

India would not only develop itself but also 

help build other economies 

14


economies, he said. ! 

PLENARY IV 

INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH STATES 

Chair: 

Presentation: 

State representatives: 

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 

Deputy.Chairman, 

Planning Commission 

Dr. Amit Mitra, 

Secretary General, FICCI 

Dr. Y.S.R. Reddy, 

Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh 

Nitish Kumar, 

Chief Minister, Bihar 

Narendra Modi, 

Chief Minister, Gujarat 

Ghulam Nabi Azad, 

Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir 

Oomen Chandy, 

Chief Minister, Kerala 

Vilasrao Deshmukh, 

Chief Minister, Maharashtra 

P.G.R. Scindhia, 

Industry & Finance Minister, 

Karnataka 

Narpat Singh, 

Minister for Industries, Labour & 

Employment, Rajasthan 

D. Jayakumar, 

Minister for Law and IT, 

Tamil Nadu 

A.K. Deb, 

Chief Secretary, 

West Bengal 

Chair of the session Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 

Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, spoke 

on the need for States to become partners in development 

and progress. He also talked about publicprivate 

partnership. He mentioned that the session 

was attended by 10 states — Andhra Pradesh, 

Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, 

Kerala, Maharastra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and 

West Bengal. 

Ahluwalia invited Dr. Amit Mitra for the key 

presentation of the session. 

Dr. Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, in his presentation, 

projected the present investment scenario 

in India and the kinds of measures and steps that 

needed to be taken by the Indian States to attract 

investment. He mentioned that GDP of India had 

scaled in the last one-and-a-half decade and there 

was decline in the poverty ratio which had come 

down to 54.9 percent from 1977 to 19.9 percent as 

projected in 10th Five-Year Plan. India has emerged 

as an attractive destination in all fields at the international 

level and rather it is ‘the second largest 

country’, he said. 

India had the largest human resources (stock of 

over three million scientific and technical manpower), 

he said and added that the knowledge sector 

had made progress in fields like drugs and pharmaceuticals, 

biotechnology, IT, space technology, 

specialty chemicals, entertainment software, engineering 

products. Citing a FICCI survey, he said 70 

percent of the foreign companies are making prof- 

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the 

Planning Commission, with the participating Chief 

Ministers and other ministers at the ‘Interactive Session 

with States’ in Hyderabad on January 8, 2006. 

15


its in their Indian operations while 84 percent of 

the foreign companies had plans for expansion of 

their Indian operations. 

He stated that, today, States had become key 

players in economic reforms through there were 

some growth disparities among Indian States. 

Therefore, state-level reforms held the key to a 

higher and sustainable growth trajectory and there 

was a need for benchmark performance against 

high growth states. Dr. Mitra asserted that for 

States, reforms in infrastructure, labour markets 

and governance were the key to success while fiscal 

solvency was equally crucial 

After Dr. Mitra’s presentation, Ahluwalia invited 

all Chief Ministers and state delegation heads for 

their presentations. 

Dr. Y.S.R. Reddy, Chief Minster, Andhra Pradesh 

started saying that the whole world was looking at 

India as a great opportunity for investments. 

‘India Everywhere’ was the key theme at Davos, 

where the World Economic Forum was meeting 

towards the end of January, 2006. The Indian economy 

was on a very strong footing, he said, stating 

that the fundamentals were very strong. Andhra 

Pradesh was the miniature version of India. 

“We are the largest south Indian State both in 

terms of population and area,” he said. He further 

outlined the profile of the State, which was rich in 

infrastructure and human resource. He mentioned 

that Andhra Pradesh was the leading agrarian 

State and offered a great opportunity for setting up 

of food and agro processing units. Other industries 

that could be set up in the State were automobile 

industries, electronic hardware, sugar, and leather. 

The State Government had announced a new 

Industrial Investment Policy for the period 2005- 

2010. Similarly the Government had also 

announced the IT Investment Policy and Food 

Processing Policy (2005-2010), he said. 

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, at the outset, 

said that his mandate was to take Bihar on the road 

of development and assured the gathering that 

things should surely change in Bihar for the good 

of the State as well as the investor. The State’s 

potential would be fully tapped and for all this, he 

sought the overseas Indian support and participation. 

While talking of investment possibilities, he 

outlined that there was a great potential for investments 

in urban infrastructure, integrated city 

development and urban transport systems. He reiterated 

that Bihar was changing, and requested 

overseas Indians to join the process of change. He 

quoted President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: “If India 

is to succeed, Bihar must prosper.” 

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi talked 

about a “vibrant Gujarat” in which the focus was 

why Gujarat was the ‘numero uno’ State in India. 

He highlighted many aspects — from industry and 

economic freedom to energy — in which Gujarat 

was number one in this country. He highlighted 

that Gujarat was not in competition with Indian 

States. Rather, he said Gujarat wished to compete 

with countries like Japan and China. He further 

talked about Gujarat’s assistance to Afghanistan in 

its rebuilding programme and also to Iran after the 

recent earthquake there. He talked about the tribal 

development programme, which was called 

Gujarat Pattern. 

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Ghulam 

Nabi Azad, in his speech, projected the profile of 

the State and how J&K was progressing mainly 

through tourism-related industries. He said that 

flow of tourists was increasing year by year and 

around 21,000 foreign visitors came to the Ladakh 

region last year. Jammu & Kashmir would be 

known like Switzerland in coming years, he said, 

adding that there were opportunities in tourism 

and horticulture for foreign investors. He invited 

them to become partners in the progress and development 

of J&K. 

Vilash Rao Deshmukh, Chief Minister, 

Maharastra, spoke about the commercial capital of 

India, Mumbai, and how it was integral to any kind 

of investment. He also asked investors to make a 

wise decision as all States were presented on a single 

platform. He suggested that investors could 

judge States on the basis of fiscal environment, 

investment policies, infrastructure and human 

resource. He further asked FICCI to conduct a 

study to see how much of investment had come to 

India in the last four years and how much had been 

contributed by the investor due to this particular 

16





environment. 

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in his 

presentation, highlighted the problems faced by 

NRIs in the Gulf region and the steps taken by his 

State. He further recollected the policies of the 

Kerala Government in favour of overseas Indians 

and how it had helped them in developing an international 

airport. Now, they planned to have an airline 

for the benefit of Keralites. 

He also mentioned that GoI should have a provision 

for single window clearance for investors at 

the national level and their voices should be heard. 

He praised GoI for issuing the OCI card and other 

initiatives taken in favour of skilled and unskilled 

labour. Concluding, he mentioned that Kerala was 

on the path of progress and had the required 

atmosphere for prospective investors. 

P.G.R. Scindhia, Industry & Finance Minster, 

Karnataka, in his speech, mentioned that 

Karnataka might not be like Gujarat in FDI but “it 

is one State that has made us proud because of its 

knowledge”. He stated that, in a few years, cities 

like Belgaum, Mangalore and Mysore would be on 

the world map in fields like information technology, 

biotechnology and higher education. He said 

that the State was working for better infrastructure 

and would soon have an international airport in 

Bangalore as well as in Mangalore. His presentation 

focused on Karnataka as a destination for 

information technology and biotechnology 

investors. At the end, he reiterated that the State 

had good fiscal management. Policies were in place 

and there were abundant human resources, he 

said. 

Narpat Singh, Minister for Industries, Labour & 

Employment, Rajasthan, in his presentation, mentioned 

that Rajasthan was one of the most peaceful 

states and there was no case of industrial dispute. 

He further elaborated on how Rajasthan had developed 

its infrastructure and Special Industrial Zones 

in cities like Jodhpur for investors. He said that 

Rajasthan was the leader in exports due to its right 

policies and infrastructure like roads. The State had 

also targeted the emerging youth and opened several 

technical and non-technical institutions to 

impart quality education. He said that Rajasthan 

had the right mix of friendly infrastructure and 

educated labour. 

D. Jayakumar, Minister for Law and IT, Tamil 

Nadu, asserted that there were abundant skilled professionals 

in his State because of the existence of 252 

engineering colleges, 220 polytechnics and 600-plus 

industrial training schools. Chennai was ranked 

138th among 145 cities in terms of cost of living. He 

explained the scope for investment in tourism, 

adventure and sports and emphasised the significance 

of ports and human resources in the State. 

He mentioned that the Business World magazine 

had recognised Tamil Nadu as a new destination as 

many companies had opened their offices in 

Chennai and other cities. 

West Bengal Chief Secretary A.K. Deb, in his 

address, highlighted the greatly improved climate 

of trade, commerce, industry, and investment in the 

State. He pointed out that, in recent times, several 

ambitious private sector initiatives including the 

Dhirubhai Ambani Medical College and Hospital 

and various other new projects were coming up. 

Many information technology firms had also made 

West Bengal their home, he said. He mentioned 

that a host of private engineering colleges had 

come up, indicating a welcome approach to trade 

17

Parallel Sessions with States 

A delegate asking a question during the parallel session with Bihar state 

in Hyderabad on January 8, 2006. 

policies in the State. ! 

PARALLEL SESSIONS WITH STATES 

" Andhra Pradesh 

The session was chaired by Dr. Y.S.R. Reddy, Chief 

Minister, Andhra Pradesh (AP), and was attended 

by Dr. J. Geeta Reddy, Minister for Culture and 

Tourism, along with officials from AP Tourism, the 

State IT department, AP Industries and APInvest. 

The session had four presentations. 

The first presentation was made by AP Industries 

focusing on the theme ‘Come and invest in Andhra 

Pradesh’. It stated that AP was a peaceful State 

with liberal labour laws and had a ‘proactive 

Industrial Investment Policy’ while giving incentives 

to investors. AP was fast emerging as a “preferred 

destination” for global investors, according 

to the presentation. Opportunities for overseas 

investors were in various areas like pharmaceuticals, 

biotechnology, cement, food & agro processing, 

apparel, ethanol and bio-fuels, hardware, miscellaneous 

industries, gas-based industries etc. It 

was mentioned that AP was strategically located 

and it was one of the fastest growing economies in 

the country along with a high human development 

index. 

The presentation highlighted the fact that the 

State was predominantly an agrarian state at its 

formation and had now emerged as one of the 

important industrial and knowledge bases in the 

country. AP had a strong local technocrat entrepreneurial 

base and was home to a large number of 

internationally renowned civil and defence 

research laboratories, although the real strength of 

AP lied in its strong and diversified manufacturing 

base. 

AP was the leading manufacturer of cement, 

drugs and pharmaceuticals, granite and paper. 

Other sectors in which the State was a leader were 

shipbuilding, fertilisers, hi-precision machine 

tools, power generation equipment, electronic 

hardware, long-range missiles, castings and forgings, 

defence electronics, steel and ferro alloys, 

ceramics, petrochemicals and textiles. It was also 

pointed out that the State had a large base for higher 

education and was home to 20 reputed universities 

with renowned R&D centres. 

It further stated that there were three Special 

Economic Zones at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and 

Krishnapatnam. ONGC was promoting Kakinada 

SEZ as an anchor investor to set up an oil refinery 

with a capital outlay of Rs. 7,500 crore. Brandix of 

Sri Lanka was promoting an integrated apparel 

park at Visakhapatnam, which would provide 

employment to about 60,000 women mostly drawn 

from BPL families. HPCL would be setting up a 

greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at 

Visakhapatnam. It was also mentioned that there 

was a provision of clearances at single point 

through the Industrial Single Window Clearance 

Act. 

The second presentation promoted AP as an 

important tourist destination. This presentation 

gave a global view of the tourism industry, which 

was rising by 4.6 percent annually and was contributing 

to 10.6 percent of the total GDP, 8.3 percent 

of employment and 9.4 percent of capital 

18





THE Prime Minister 

saluted the overseas 

Indians for their 

work and 

professional ethos 

that have made 

India proud 

investment. While looking at the Indian scenario, it 

was mentioned that, last year, 3.4 million foreign 

tourists visited, contributing to $4,810 million as 

foreign exchange earnings. It further focused on 

AP as a tourism destination, which had grown over 

the years with even the number of international 

visitors increasing by 23.5 percent. In the end, it 

was pointed out that AP would be promoting travel 

and tourism segments like leisure, business, 

health and family at various places. 

The third presentation focused on AP as an IT 

hub. AP was thriving to become the No. 1 IT/ITeS 

destination in the country and would soon be the 

hardware hub in the country. The State had 

achieved exports target of Rs. 69,000 crore, providing 

3,00,000 direct employment and 12,00,000 indirect 

employment. AP had also framed an ‘ICT 

Policy 2005-2010 — Infrastructure & Incentives’. 

Now, it aimed to create state-of-the art/world-class 

physical infrastructure for IT for plug & play mode, 

incubation centres, built-to-suite space, IT campuses 

and IT/ITeS/hardware product-specific Special 

Economic Zones. Now, the focus was shifting to 

Tier-II cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, 

Warangal and Tirupati. 

The last presentation was made by APInvest. 

The agency was the first contact point for NRIs. 

This was an agency that promoted investment and 

development in key sectors and staffed with high 

quality talent from the private sector. It was 

equipped with deep linkages to the Government to 

ensure successful implementation of suggested 

reforms. 

The main sectors of concentration were IT and 

ITeS, tourism, food processing/horticulture, hi-tech 

manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, 

textile and leather, retail and real estate, education 

and health services. 

The presentation also had a message from the 

Chief Minister: “Investments are critical to economic 

growth; focused efforts are an imperative to 

drive growth in chosen sectors of the economy and 

provide convenience and comfort to the investing 

community. APInvest is the single point of contact 

that facilitates investments in Andhra Pradesh. 

Welcome to Andhra Pradesh. Get the APInvest 

advantage,” the message said. 

It was further emphasised that APInvest was a 

single-point agency for development of infrastructure 

projects in AP, having the Government as the 

developer leading to public-private partnerships. 

The session generated great interest among the 

delegates with the chair stating that AP was a progressive 

State and looking for fruitful partnership 

with overseas Indians who were welcome to invest 

in any of the areas/sectors. 

" Bihar 

The session was chaired by J.K. Datta. Chief 

Minister Nitish Kumar was the chief guest of the 

session, which was also attended by the State’s 

Deputy Chief Minister, Sunil Modi. 

Ajit Kumar made a Powerpoint presentation on 

Bihar — the resources, opportunities and priority 

development sectors. He made a strong case for 

investing in Bihar especially in the areas of horticulture, 

IT and tourism. For the new Government 

in Bihar, building infrastructure was a top priority 

to lure investors. A number of new policies were 

showcased that pointed to various directions that 

development in Bihar was expected to take. 

The second presentation outlined the incentives 

and facilities for industry in Bihar. Appealing that 

Bihar needed to get back its previous glory of its 

importance in India, the presentation stated that, 

for new industrial growth in Bihar, the State 

Investment Promotion Board was the centralised 

agency to deal with all such matters. 

The third presentation began with an introduc- 

19


tion of the 12-member team that had come to 

Hyderabad, which comprised industrialists from 

Bihar. The group felt that the new CM was playing 

the role of a catalyst and was looking forward to 

the State making rapid strides under his leadership. 

It was mentioned that one sector that had 

tremendous potential for growth was agro industry 

— horticulture, sugar, paper, dairy, fishing and 

poultry. The group of industrialists argued that 

Bihar was a virgin area for investment in all sectors. 

They had submitted an agenda for development in 

Bihar to the new Government, which, they felt, had 

shown positive response. According to the presntation, 

the new Government was responsive but 

needed to get proactive now. 

The discussion that followed went on for about 

an hour and was animated 

and hard-hitting. 

The audience comprised 

both NRI Biharis and 

Biharis living outside 

Bihar in India. The general 

tone of the comments 

was one of 

despair about the condition 

of Bihar and a sense 

BIHAR Chief Minister 

Nitish Kumar, in his 

response, spoke of a 

new wave that was 

taking place in Bihar 

with fresh ideas 

and policies. 

of shame/embarrassment 

about being a 

Bihari. A new optimism 

with the change in 

Government was also evident, though guarded. 

The potential for developing tourism in the State 

with its rich heritage was emphasised by a few. 

There were some questions related to the need 

for the new Government to move fast and spell out 

a road map for 2006 with clear priorities and objectives. 

Investment in Bihar would come in only if the 

new Government was open, transparent and 

online, it was felt. The presence of the 12 industrialists 

from the State sent out positive signals to the 

audience about changes for the better in Bihar. The 

older residents from Bihar seemed more hopeful 

about change than the younger ones, who were 

more sceptical and in a hurry for change. An 

important comment was that besides economic 

growth, social development in Bihar too needed 

top priority. 

In his response, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar 

spoke of a new wave in Bihar with fresh ideas and 

policies. He talked about setting up of a single window 

system to which all queries can be addressed. 

He welcomed investments from NRIs in the State 

but assured that, even if none came, the 

Government would still go ahead with its development 

plans. The law and order situation in the 

State had improved but still needed to get better. 

As the new Government had been in power for 

only seven weeks, it needed more time for results 

to show, he said. He argued that now there was no 

reason for anyone not to invest in Bihar as capital 

subsidy had been announced on priority industries. 

Bihar would focus on decentralised planning 

at the panchayat level 

and on both HRD and 

economic development. 

The session very clearly 

saw an emerging optimism 

about Bihar from 

the audience and the 

Government. 

" Gujarat 

The session started with 

the playing of a CD, 

Vibrant Gujarat in which 

the focus was on why 

Gujarat was the ‘numero uno’ State in India. It 

highlighted many aspects starting from industry 

and economic freedom to energy. It also portrayed 

a nice picture about other sectors like education, 

agriculture, power and tourism. 

Ashok Bhatt, the State’s Minister of Energy and 

Law, was the first to address the audience. He 

spoke in Hindi, reciting from various Gujarati 

poets. He invited the Gujaratis participating in 

PBD 2006 to visit their respective families in order 

to see how the dreams of Ravishankar Maharaj, 

Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel had been 

realised there. 

Another CD, Destination Gujarat, produced by the 

Gujarat Tourism Development Corporation was 

also played. The Gujarat Government has declared 

20





2006 as Tourism Year of the State. The short film 

showcased coastlines, deserts, hill stations, sanctuaries, 

green forests, waterfalls, holy places, temples, 

forts, and festivals of the State with details. 

Chief Minister Narendra Modi then addressed 

the gathering. He spoke in Hindi and introduced 

Mahendra Chaudhury, former prime minister of 

Fiji, to the audience. Modi started with the statement 

that PBD had become an investment summit 

now. When A. B. Vajpayee started it, his vision was 

to invite the NRIs to share their experiences so that 

everybody together could become an invincible 

power, he said. He then stated that the main force 

behind the success story of Gujarat was people’s 

participation in developmental work. 

According to him, people’s participation was the 

mantra in present day Gujarat. For example, after 

the devastating 2002 earthquake, the World Bank 

expressed its view that Gujarat could stand on its 

feet only by 2007. But Modi claimed that Gujarat 

was “running” right now, i.e., much before 2007. 

He also stated that Gujarat had a Disaster 

Management Programme, which had been accepted 

by the Government of India. Sri Lanka also had 

accepted this model after the tsunami devastated 

the island. He mentioned that Gujarat had been 

assisting Afghanistan in its rebuilding programme 

as also Iran after the recent earthquake over there. 

He talked about the tribal development programme, 

which was called Gujarat Pattern. Under 

this programme, the Government formed committees 

in tribal villages and gave funds to them for 

executing developmental schemes. Tribals themselves 

decided what should be done with the 

money, he said. 

The Modi Government had spent Rs. 1,000 crore 

to complete 40,000 projects in the tribal areas, and 

there was remarkable transparency in all these. 

Another important milestone of his Government, 

according to Modi, was girl child education. He 

emphatically stated that every year, between June 

13 and 15, when VVIPs of other States went to 

Switzerland, Shimla, or Kullu and Manali, the CM 

and all other ministers, bureaucrats and forest officers 

of Gujarat went to those villages where the 

population of the educated girl children was less 

than 10 percent. With the help of this programme, 

the Gujarat Government had been able to improve 

the enrollment to 100 percent. 

Again, in comparison to the earlier dropout rate 

of 49 percent for girls, now it had been reduced to 

11 percent. Regarding the health of girl children 

below the poverty line, Modi mentioned the 

‘Chiranjivi Scheme’, under which, on the 9th of 

every month, all gynecologists in the State freely 

treated women going to them for health check-up. 

Then he talked about growth in the education sector 

in Gujarat, especially about the integrated 

courses spanning over five years in different disciplines. 

After that, he discussed tourism in Gujarat, saying 

the State believed in the motto “Atithi Devo 

Bhava”. He reiterated that 2006 had been declared 

as the Tourism Year in Gujarat. His claim was that, 

very soon Kutch would be like Singapore. He also 

discussed the potential for medical tourism in the 

State and invited the NRIs to help the Government 

in this project. 

Finally, he outlined developmental schemes in 

textile industry and jewellery. 

Q&A 

! Gujaratis and Punjabis form the major chunk 

of the NRIs, so why not hold the PBD in one of 

these states 

! Bangle industry should be encouraged to 

grow fast in Gujarat. 

! Why don’t Indian embassies abroad give 

detailed information to interested NRIs about 

employment, trade and commerce opportunities in 

various States in India 

! Elaborate the e-governance projects in 

Gujarat. 

! When earlier Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 was 

paid as bribe for a teacher’s job in Gujarat, your 

education minister has appointed 100,000 teachers 

and there is no complaint of corruption. It implies 

that corruption has been reduced to a minimum in 

your State. 

! When even soil survey could not be in done 

in Maharashtra in a year, I have been able to start 

21


manufacturing in Gujarat in the same period of 

time. This shows the Gujarat Government’s 

dynamism, but enough land is not available in the 

cities for establishing medical centres. To this, the 

CM responded: “Take the existing hospitals and 

develop them. But do not forget there must be 

provision for the poor.” 

! What about bio-fuel projects in Gujarat CM 

said, “I am promoting bio-fuel projects.” 

! What about an airport with international 

norms in Gujarat CM said that Praful Patel has 

agreed to build one in Gujarat. 

! Why not have a Disney World, African Safari 

and Aquarium in Gujarat to attract tourists in the 

Tourism Year CM said, “I invite private parties to 

collaborate in all these projects.” 

! Why not encourage non-resident Gujaratis to 

establish a private university by creating an Act for 

this, so that the Gujaratis abroad can send their 

children to study in Gujarat and, as a result, the 

links with their motherland will be maintained 

Finally, Modi invited all NRIs to Gujarat for the 

Viswa Pravasi Divas to be organised from January 

12 to 14, 2006. 

" Jammu & Kashmir 

A presentation on the theme ‘Come, Explore and 

Invest — An Emerging Industrial Destination: 

Potential and Opportunities’ was made by S.S. 

Kapur, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. 

After the presentation about the opportunities in 

Jammu & Kashmir, three persons from the audience 

asked questions. 

Bikas C. Sanyal, Special Advisor, International 

Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO), 

Paris, raised the issue of security. He was optimistic 

about the Indo-Pak peace process and stressed the 

importance of education in Kashmir. 

In reply, Kapur said that there was an improvement 

in the situation now with one million tourists 

visiting the valley, which was the highest so far. 

“Still,” he said, “we were not getting investment 

because people still think it was not safe. The situation 

had improved considerably.” 

The present Government was most committed 

for the development of the State, he said. In this 

direction, the Government had already announced 

a number of packages. To attract investors, the 

Government had given many incentives, subsidies 

and tax relief. He further mentioned that the State 

was rich in limestone and other mineral deposits. It 

had, therefore, good potential to start industries in 

sectors like cement. The other potential areas for 

investment were horticulture, tissue culture, food 

processing, leather processing, eco-tourism, pharmaceuticals 

and handicrafts. 

Stating that the people of the State would appreciate 

the investors and would not create any problem, 

he mentioned that even at the height of militancy 

and in places where militancy was strong, 

projects were successfully completed without any 

hurdles. 

Kapur accepted the fact that education was 

affected in Jammu & Kashmir due to militancy, but 

said that now the Government was concentrating 

on the education system. He gave the example of 

increase in the number of degree colleges, engineering 

colleges, medical colleges and establishment 

of two universities by two different religious 

trusts. 

Gerald John Pereira, Advisor, Lorosae 

Management, Kuala Lumpur, expressed his interest 

in the areas of power and cement sectors. He 

raised the question of guarantee for projects from 

the Government. He also wanted to know whether 

the Central Government had any role in decisionmaking 

or whether it supported State projects. He 

reminded about the rich resources available in J&K 

and also the Northeast. He stressed about the 

importance of power, particularly hydroelectric 

power plants and suggested that cross-border 

issues could be controlled by providing good 

employment in J&K. He called for the improvement 

of infrastructure and suggested that investment 

be sought from medium and small institutions 

other than international banks. 

In response to his questions and suggestions, the 

Principal Secretary said that he would consider 

these and stated that the Central Government was 

helping and supporting the State. He said that the 

State rarely had unrest while implementing any big 

project. He also said that the handicrafts industry 

22





had to be developed. 

Guru Thalapaneni, President & CEO, Remoba, 

Inc. of U.S., expressing interest in the IT sector, said 

that he was willing to invest and provide employment 

opportunities to the youth of Jammu & 

Kashmir youth. He also expressed his concerns 

about the militancy in the State. 

In his response, Kapur said that he would further 

discuss these issues with both Pereira and 

Thalapaeni. 

" Karnataka 

The session was chaired by the State’s Minister of 

Industry, P.G.R. Scindhia. Lakshmi Venkatachalam, 

Principal Secretary, Industry, in her presentation, 

highlighted the messages given by renowned 

Karnataka personalities like Kasturirangan, Kiran 

Mazumdar Shaw, Nandan Nilekani and 

Ramachandra Guha who spoke about the strides 

taken by Karnataka in the fields of IT industry, 

biotech industry, the cosmopolitan culture of the 

State and the attempts at improving the infrastructure 

situation in the State. She mentioned that 

Bangalore was the fourth largest IT hub in the 

world after Silicon Valley, Boston and London. 

Karnataka was the highest exporter of software in 

the country. 

The Principal Secretary also gave a brief introduction 

of the human resource capability and the 

infrastructural support in the specialised areas of 

IT, biotech and healthcare. She highlighted some 

priority areas for investment, which were to be 

spelt out in the new industrial policy of 2006. 

Karnataka was also among the top five industrialised 

states in India. This was made possible as the 

State had brought about a single window approach 

through the Karnataka Faclilitation Act to enable 

easier clearance for investors. 

The State was in the process of creating Special 

Economic Zones (SEZs) in Gulbarga-Belgaum, 

Hubli-Dharwad, Karvar-Mangalore and 

Bangalore-Mysore to boost investment. 

Transportation facilities in the State were good 

with efforts being made to convert all the railway 

lines into broad guage. Karnataka also had the 

largest number of operational airports in the country, 

she said. 

Dr. Deviprasad Shetty, Founder, Narayana 

Hrudayalaya Foundation and renowned heart surgeon, 

gave a presentation on recent developments 

in the health sector and health tourism with specific 

emphasis on heart care. He spoke about health 

insurance/micro-health insurance and its importance 

in benefiting the poor and lower middle class 

families in general and farmers in particular. 

Presently, 2.2 million farmers were members of 

Yesasvini, a unique micro-health insurance programme 

initiated in Karnataka to provide health 

insurance. The farmers had to pay Rs. 5 per month 

and the Government would contribute Rs. 2.5 per 

month, he said. 

He spoke about some pilot projects in telemedicine 

and micro-insurance (Rajiv Gandhi Arogya 

Yojana), also known as RAY in Amethi, Uttar 

Pradesh. Stating that the sector of health service 

had huge potential for growth, he cited the example 

of the British National Health Service, which 

was the third largest employer in the world. He 

gave a positive note on investment in healthcare 

that would provide employment to lower middle 

class and poor sections of the people, especially to 

women. 

Talking about cardiac problems, he said that 

Indians were three times more vulnerable to heart 

problems compared to other countries. But there 

was severe shortage of healthcare professionals 

who could provide cardiac care. While there was a 

requirement of about 3,000 cardiac specialists in 

India every year, presently the country was able to 

produce only 100, he said. In this specific area, he 

said that the telemedicine initiative could help a 

lot. 

Presently, ISRO was providing technical help to 

23 of the 27 districts in Karnataka. He said that this 

was the optimisation of technological usage. 

Mobile diagnostic facility was another initiative 

taken up by the Narayana Foundation to enable the 

remote villagers to have access to healthcare. He 

spoke about the ‘Walmartisation’ of healthcare, 

where private investments were encouraged and 

government becoming just the insurance provider 

from healthcare provider. Before signing off, he 

23


said, “We should first be able to provide complete 

healthcare to our own citizens rather than focus on 

health tourism.” 

Shankarlinge Gowda, Secretary, IT and biotechnology, 

spoke about the availability of world class 

R&D facilities that Bangalore provided as a knowledge 

database for IT and biotech industry (more 

than 135 R&D Institutes along with IISc). He spoke 

about the e-governance initiatives such as KAVERI 

(Registration of property transactions) and infrastructure 

development projects especially in 

biotech sector. 

Minister of Industry P.G.R. Scindhia, while 

thanking the presenters, spoke about the encouraging 

climate provided by the Government of 

Karnataka in welcoming investments into the State. 

At the same time, he also agreed that some constraints 

in the infrastructure sector were there, 

which the government was trying to overcome. 

Q&A 

About 25 overseas Indians, mainly people of 

Karnataka origin, attended the interactive session. 

They showed keen interest in investing in sectors 

like IT, road and transport (air), healthcare and 

renewable energy. Some of their proposals were 

taken into consideration immediately on the spot. 

Most of the participants wanted the Karnataka 

Government to show competitive spirit in encouraging 

investment citing the case of the lack of 

proper infrastructure facilities particularly in the 

power and road sectors. 

" Kerala 

The session was opened by Jiji Thomson, Director 

of Public Relations and Information, Kerala. He 

spoke about the intention of the meeting and different 

policies devised and implemented by the 

Kerala Government towards the welfare of nonresident 

Keralites including different schemes 

available in the State for safe and profitable investments. 

As tourism was one of the potential areas 

for investment, he invited Suman, Director of 

Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, to brief 

the gathering about the details of schemes available 

in the area of tourism. 

Suman informed the participants about the 

already identified projects across the State, which 

were readily available for investment. 

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy then 

spoke about the plans of the Government and initiatives 

charted exclusively for non-resident 

Keralites and opened the floor for questions. 

There were many questions on the launching of 

proposed civil aviation venture of Kerala, Air 

Kerala for the benefit of Gulf-based Keralites. The 

Chief Minister reiterated the mission of the airline, 

saying it was the need of the hour as other major 

airlines were costwise out of the reach of workers 

working in the Gulf. It would be a project supported 

and invested by the non-resident Malayalees as 

proven by Kochi airport and the proposed Kannur 

airport. 

There were also some questions regarding investments 

in the area of knowledge economy to create 

more job opportunities in Kerala itself for the coming 

generations. The session discussed the active 

intervention by the Government in giving training 

to the people going to the Gulf countries for 

employment and different schemes introduced by 

Department of NORKA for the welfare and comfortable 

settlement after their return from the Gulf 

countries. There were many questions seeking clarifications 

on the support and subsidies available in 

different investment areas. 

" Maharashtra 

The session began with a welcome address by 

Ashok Chavan, the Maharashtra Government’s 

Industry Minister, followed by the Secretary of 

Tourism. The session was also attended by noted 

Hindi film actor Jackie Shroff and director Subhash 

Ghai. 

The focus areas identified for future investments 

in the State were: information technology, bio-technology, 

tourism industry and the film industry. 

Maharashtra was described as an economic powerhouse 

and the financial capital of the country. It 

was projected as the gateway to business opportunities 

in India. Mumbai, it was claimed, was “the 

best city for business”. Other factors cited in favour 

24





of Maharashtra were the time zone position of the 

BSE, which started functioning from 6 a.m. in the 

morning, two major ports, and three international 

airports at Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune. 

It was stated that Maharashtra and/or Mumbai 

was the most favoured destination for investors. 

The investor need not view its investment here as 

charity. Instead, it would be for high returns by 

virtue of highest productivity, positive work culture, 

no language barriers and continuity and consistency 

of the State Government’s trade policy. The 

World Bank, in its latest study, had assigned 

Maharashtra the 42nd rank for the best investment 

climate in the world, it was pointed out. The State 

Government had now proposed to provide special 

incentives in the following thrust areas: physical 

infrastructure, housing, economic growth and 

social infrastructure. 

Investors were assured of good governance in 

terms of minimal time and hassle-free processing. 

Subash Ghai invited NRIs to invest in his proposed 

International Institute for Entertainment in 

the State. 

Q&A 

! Gopi Duani (of Mumbai origin) from Boston 

sought information about healthcare. 

! Another NRI pointed out that non-conventional 

energy sources like solar energy were still 

unexplored in India. He was informed that wind 

power was being tapped and 7-8 MoUs in this sector 

had already been signed. 

! Atul Tumdikar (of Nagpur origin), running 

the Global Singapore Educational Foundation in 

Singapore, enquired about the 

prospects of similar ventures in 

and around Nagpur. He asked 

Ghai if the latter was arranging 

any summer camps for acting for 

kids. 

! Memon from Saudi Arabia 

complained about production of 

formula films and requested for 

making cleaner films to avoid 

drastic censor cuts by the Saudi 

THE greatly 

improved 

climate for 

trade in West 

Bengal was 

highlighted 

Arabian authorities. 

! To a query by Vijay, an NRI, regarding job 

opportunities in the entertainment media sector, it 

was informed that many more TV channels were 

soon to be launched. 

! Govardhan Singh from Canada suggested 

that the standards of Indian films could be 

improved by tie-ups and co-productions with 

Western film producers. 

! Yatin Shah from the U.S. mentioned about a 

stay order by a court on a real estate venture in 

Mumbai by some foreign investor and sought further 

information. He was told that, though the 

Government had set up a committee to deal with it, 

litigation could not be avoided as the aggrieved 

party got impatient. 

! Attention was drawn by Ananda V. 

Wazalwar, from Hyderabad, a resident Indian, to 

the question of Mumbai’s seismic vulnerability. 

While admitting it, the threat was not perceived to 

be serious enough to affect investment prospects. 

! To a pointer by Ravi Mishra from the U.S. 

regarding pollution and corruption in Mumbai, it 

was claimed that Mumbai was one of the less polluted 

cities and he was assured that due care would 

be taken to avoid any corruption in future investment 

offers. 

" Rajasthan 

Senior officials including ministers concerned representing 

the Government of Rajasthan detailed the 

investment opportunities available to the delegates. 

The growing investment opportunities and 

promotional policies undertaken by the 

Government were explained. About 35 delegates 

participated in the State briefing. 

The prime areas of investment 

explained by the officials included 

agriculture, tourism, food 

processing, biotechnology, herbal 

cosmetics, gems and jewellery. 

It was explained that, to promote 

capital investment and 

accelerated economic growth, 

the Rajasthan Government had 

set up the Economic Policy and 

25


Reform Council. A major objective of this Council 

was to promote public-private partnership in the 

identified areas. Tourism, the major area of foreign 

attraction, was identified under the service sector. 

Incentives for investment in this sector were introduced 

under the Rajasthan Investment Policy. 

Investments in water sports, camp tourism, heritage 

hotels and ropeways were the areas in which 

the NRIs could invest, it was mentioned. 

Special Economic Zones had been established to 

facilitate foreign investment in some of the above 

areas. A duty-free SEZ for gems and jewellery had 

been set up in Jaipur while another SEZ had been 

established at Jodhpur for handicraft units. Agrofood 

parks with special infrastructure had been set 

up at Kota, Jodhpur and Sriganganagar. 

" Tamil Nadu 

R. Rajagopal, Secretary, Planning, Development 

and Special Initiatives Department, Tamil Nadu, 

spoke about the State’s infrastructural development, 

power, communication and healthcare. 

Around 30 NRI delegates attended the session with 

keen interest to invest in the State. It was reported 

that a Hong Kong-based magazine had labelled 

Chennai as the business hub of Asia. 

Rajagopal emphasised the significance of ports 

and human resources in the State. He asserted that 

there were abundant skilled professionals because 

of the existence of 252 engineering colleges, 220 

polytechnics and 600-plus industrial training 

schools. This had resulted in Chennai being ranked 

138th among 145 cities in terms of cost of living. It 

was observed that several NRIs and MNCs came 

back to Chennai as it was considered to be the 

safest and best city in India. 

In the context of foreign direct investment position, 

Chennai had been home to some well-known 

companies such as Ford, Hyundai Motors and 

MM-Mitsubishi. The latest statistics revealed that 

exports from the State during the year 2004-05 

amounted to $11.8 billion. It was interesting to note 

that Chennai was also known as the Detroit of 

India. 

Apparently, BMW entered into an MoU with 

Tamil Nadu for setting up an automobile assembly 

plant with Mahindra. The importance of enterprises 

in cotton, textiles and machinery in Coimbatore, 

which is also known as the Manchester of South 

India, was emphasised. 

The following were cited as good enough reasons 

for NRIs to invest in the State: 

! Support to fiscal incentives for foreign 

investors 

! The State being an IT destination 

! IT promotion and development 

! IT parks 

! IT corridor which had a world class six-lane 

road stretching for 24 km in south of Chennai and 

software exports reaching $2.5 billion. 

There were opportunities in agro and food processing. 

Biotechnolgy, herbal, marine and agro sectors 

were open for investment by NRIs. A women’s 

biotech park was operational in Siruseri. The 

Government had also formulated the Special 

Economic Zone (SEZ) Act 2005. 

D. Rajendran, Secretary, Tourism, Tamil Nadu, 

highlighted the major tourist attractions such as 

religious centres, hill stations, beaches, festivals, 

besides health tourism. He explained the scope for 

investment in tourism, adventure and sports. He 

also assured the NRI delegates that they would not 

get disappointed if they invested in tourism. 

Rajendran fervently requested the NRIs to invest in 

Tamil Nadu and offered attractive packages such 

as soft loans. 

D. Jayakumar, Minister for Law and IT, Tamil 

Nadu, also urged the NRIs to invest in the State. 

Q&A 

! A delegate from Malaysia raised a question 

pertaining to collaboration between his country 

and Chennai in terms of IT (software and hardware). 

Rajagopal said that it was possible for such 

a venture and revealed that Tamil Nadu had collaborated 

with Taiwan. He stressed on the need for 

NRI investors to acquire a piece of land in the State 

before signing any business collaboration. 

! Another delegate from Malaysia asked if IIT 

Madras could collaborate with his country. 

However, the Secretary, Tamil Nadu, said that IIT 

26





Madras was not under the State Government and 

decisions would have to be made by the Central 

Government. 

! The Minister of Industry, Malaysia, said that 

Chennai was the closest to his country and Tamils 

had migrated to Malaysia 143 years ago. Hence, the 

relationship between the two groups was almost 

one-and-a-half-century old. He called for the 

organisation of a Pravasi Tamil Divas and said that 

some delegates from Malaysia would be sent to 

Chennai after discussing the issue with the Chief 

Minister Jayalalitha. He also stated that investments 

in two-way trade could also be looked at. 

! A delegate from Australia urged the State 

Government to look into the problems of roads and 

public transportation system in Chennai. 

! A delegate from Durban, South Africa, raised 

a question on possible collaboration with Chennai 

because 1.5 million Indian migrants in South Africa 

were Tamils. 

! Another question focused on the kind of 

offers and benefits that were extended for NRI 

investors. The Secretary said that issues could be 

tackled case by case. Moreover, he said that 

relaxation even on land was being made available 

especially on wasteland wherein investors 

could directly buy from the farmers who own 

land. 

! One of the delegates from Dubai asked the 

Government of Tamil Nadu to help Tamils in 

Dubai who had been the worst sufferers among the 

migrant communities. He said that Tamil women 

were lured as maidservants but often get exploited 

sexually. The IT & Law Minister, D. Jayakumar, 

assured him that the Chief Minister would talk to 

the Prime Minister promptly whenever any such 

case arose. 

! An NRI doctor expressed his view that 

investors were getting financial assistance from the 

Government of India but the Tamil Nadu 

Government was not providing land. He felt that 

the biotechnology sector could be boosted if incentives 

with rich dividends were offered by the State 

Government to investors. 

! One delegate from Malaysia was of the opinion 

that a Pravasi Bharatiya Divas could be conducted 

in Tamil language because Tamils were 

spread all over the world. 

" West Bengal 

The session was attended by S. Sen, Principal 

Secretary, Commerce, P. Vanamali, Resident 

Commissioner, A.K. Deb, Chief Secretary and the 

Secretary, West Bengal Industrial Development 

Corporation. 

Several questions were raised by interested members 

of the audience regarding the West Bengal 

Government’s current trade policies, infrastructural 

facilities available, measures being initiated to 

welcome foreign investment in the State, retailing 

facilities offered to overseas Indian entrepreneurs 

and so on. 

In their replies marked by candour and cautious 

optimism, the official representatives highlighted the 

greatly improved climate of trade, commerce, industry, 

and investment in the State. They pointed out 

that in recent times, several ambitious private sector 

initiatives including the Dhirubhai Ambani Medical 

College and Hospital as well as the starting of a host 

of private engineering colleges had signalled a welcome 

approach to trade policies in the State. 

Sanyal, an academic from the U.S., shared his 

experiences in the education sector and identified 

key areas where West Bengal could have fruitful 

tie-ups with the NRI community. He also drew 

attention to the tourism potential in the 

Sunderbans region. 

A representative from the Manipal Group 

enquired about the State’s approach to investment 

in health and higher education. 

Arvind Sood, an Indian from the U.S., spoke 

about the tremendous potential in the form of outsourcing 

of jobs for Indians in Bengal in the context 

of new medical policies in the U.S. Medical transcription 

was another significant area which could 

be a source of revenue generation and employment 

facility in the State, he said. 

Another member of the audience wanted to 

know about the possibility of enhanced infrastructural 

facilities with regard to the Kolkata international 

airport. Others wanted to know about the 

status of the second airport, possibly with private 

27


sector participation. Yet another member wanted to 

know whether CNG was going to be introduced for 

vehicles in the State. 

Saswati Chakraborty a correspondent from The 

Economic Times, Bangalore, wanted to know whether 

the new political and bureaucratic resolve for a better 

trade and investment climate was being matched by a 

real change in the mindset at the ground level. In other 

words, whether a new work culture was discernible. 

Deb and Sen, defending the West Bengal 

Government, declared that all forms of investment 

that would not have adverse impact on native trade 

and industry and cause unemployment of the local 

people was being welcomed. A new corridor on the 

fast track linking major road arteries such as 

Kolkata and Kalyani was being implemented. 

Labour problems had been kept to the minimum 

while investment in the field of agriculture and 

higher education was particularly invited. The 

State Government believed in spearheading necessary 

reforms by outsourcing services and speeding 

up the procedure for new enterprises. The tourism 

policy that respected existing national obligations 

was being implemented in the Sunderbans. Stateof-the-art 

boats promoted by private companies 

would soon be introduced in the region. ! 

28


Panelists at the plenary session on ‘Diaspora Knowledge Network’ in Hyderabad on January 8, 2006. 

Chair: 


Speakers: 

PLENARY V 

DIASPORA KNOWLEDGE NETWORK 

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 

Deputy Chairman, 

Planning Commission 

S. Krishna Kumar 

Secretary, MOIA. 

Abdul Waheed Khan, 

ADG for Communication and 

Information, UNESCO 

Steve Glovinski, 

Consultant, UNDP 

Alok Srivastava, 

Consultant, UNDP 

Ravi Seethapathy, 

Chair, Shastri Indo-Canadian 

Institute 

Dr. N.S. Rajendran, 

Secretary, Youth Affairs, 

Malaysia 

Ramalinga Raju, 

Chairman, Satyam Computers 

Ahluwalia elaborated on the idea of starting 

knowledge networks by developing a database of 

experts in various fields. Citing the alumni network 

of IITs as an example, he said that there was a need 

now for an umbrella network to enhance the potential 

of such networks. He referred to the model and 

idea that the UNDP office in New Delhi was working 

on with respect to realisation of the Millennium 

Development Goals (MDGs). He emphasised the 

need for sustainable traffic among the networks. 

Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director 

General, Communication and Information, UNESCO, 

in his presentation, referred to the importance of such 

networks by highlighting the fact that an international 

news magazine had a cover story on the topic in its 

latest issue. He mentioned the problems of poverty 

and the digital divide which restricted the growth of 

knowledge societies. He stressed that networks 

should be inclusive in nature. Freedom of expression, 

access and respect for cultural diversity were essential. 

India had an important place and role to play in the 

knowledge era. Advantages such as proficiency in 

English language, edge in IT, a strong learning tradition 

and spread of a rich Indian knowledge diaspora 

across the world were listed. He said that given these 

advantages, the question should be: “How can our 

diaspora invest their knowledge in our country” 

Though brain drain was often mentioned, Dr. Khan 

said that brain gain had to be recognised as well. The 

ideas of President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam were cited 

to emphasise the point. Information and communication 

technology (ICT) had a major role in knowledge 

29


networks, he said. There were advantages but also 

risks in the diaspora’s detachment from home networks. 

Education had enormous potential through 

exchange programmes, grants for academic 

exchange, partnerships between universities and 

co-operation in research projects. The establishment 

of a diaspora university was needed and was 

already on the cards, he said. The boost for science 

and technology activities through ICTs was well 

known and needed to be tapped further. 

The network of diaspora S&T professionals could 

contribute further. Culture and entertainment were 

other potential areas. 

Steve Glovinski made the second presentation 

along with his colleague, Alok Srivastava. He presented 

his work on “Solution Exchange” as a form 

of network. He mentioned that knowledge sharing 

was fine but emphasis ought to be on utilization. 

Connecting people through the idea of communities 

of practitioners was emphasised. Active communities 

of practitioners were possible in various sectors of 

development such as decentralisation, environment, 

food, gender, health, AIDS, education and poverty 

alleviation. Two kinds of knowledge were crucial — 

expertise and experience. He further explained how 

the idea worked. When a query is raised, it flowed 

through the community and by sharing the responses, 

a consolidated reply or response was provided. 

Alok Srivastava presented the sequence and 

explained that at least eight such communities of 

practice were in existence. Decentralisation was the 

key and the members of the community should 

include government servants, NGOs, funding agencies, 

researchers, academicians and field workers. He 

referred to the specific instance of how a primer for 

panchayat workers had been developed. Similarly, 

experiences of Himachal Pradesh and Orissa in the 

development sector were shared with others. 

Ravi Seethapathy, Chair of the Shastri Indo- 

Canadian Institute, Canada, gave his view on networking. 

In areas such as climate change and trade, 

networks had helped. Language was a variable and 

networks could, to some extent, help in sharing of 

ideas through different languages. The policy 

required close interaction between the public, government 

and the private sector and this could be 

achieved through networking. Connectivity between 

experts, empowerment and feedback was possible 

through networking. He mentioned some of the successful 

projects like the Aga Khan Foundation, and 

the work done on disaster management (reference to 

tsunami). He further referred to the work of the 

Swaminathan Foundation and the concept of information 

villages in Pondicherry where a simple medium 

such as the radio was effectively used for disseminating 

information with backend networking. 

Dr. N.S.Rajendran from Malaysia highlighted the 

importance of networks and mentioned that he 

could count at least 50 major networks of significance. 

Networks needed sustained efforts to be 

successful. Administration of the networks was 

crucial. Therefore, there was a need to recognise an 

indigenous knowledge creation process. Their role 

could not be discounted. They needed to be documented. 

Researchers among the diaspora could 

network and mutually benefit. The networking 

could go beyond web-based platforms, he said. 

B. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam highlighted the 

growth of IT sector and how it was a significant 

factor in the growth of GDP. Globalisation was outpacing 

the growth of the services sector and there 

was value attrition, which was a global phenomenon. 

By 2010, he said, India would be the major 

beneficiary of these growing changes. Economic 

opportunities that existed had to be cashed in. 

Commoditisation and innovation were there and 

had to be viewed in the right sense, he said. 

Proper leadership was necessary to drive policies. 

Raju was of the view that there was great 

potential in the areas of pharmaceuticals, retail and 

even real estate. There was a need for more and 

more NRIs to be in India. However, the possibility 

of virtual platforms made it possible for the diaspora 

to stay wherever they were and still contribute 

their knowledge to the country. He said 

that, for example, members of the diaspora could 

utilise the weekends, to contribute their knowledge 

30


Dr. Karan Singh, President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), 

speaking at the plenary session on ‘Diaspora and Culture’ in Hyderbad 

on January 8, 2006. 

and resources through virtual platforms. ! 

PLENARY VI 

DIASPORA AND CULTURE 

Chair: 

Jaipal Reddy, 

Minister for Culture and Urban 

Development, GoI 

Opening Remarks: S. Krishna Kumar, 


Keynote Speaker: Dr. Karan Singh, 

President, ICCR 

Speakers: 

Rathna Kumar, 

U.S.A. 

Abhimanyu Unnuth, 

Mauritius 

Satnarayan Maharaj, 

Trinidad & Tobago 

Dato G. Palanivel, 

Malaysia 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, welcomed 

the gathering and dignitaries on the dais along 

with an introduction to the session. He mentioned 

culture as an important and crucial underlying current, 

which created the identity of the Indian diaspora. 

Dr. Karan Singh, President, Indian Council for 

Cultural Relations (ICCR), and a former Union 

Minister delivered the keynote address. In his 

address, he spoke about three kinds of diplomacies 

of which one was cultural diplomacy. As part of it, 

ICCR was actively engaged in the dissemination of 

Indian culture abroad through establishing chairs 

and exchange programmes, especially for the 

Indian diaspora in many countries and for the general 

public. He stressed that such initiatives were 

not supposed to be subsidised through the 

Missions but should be self-supported. 

In India, Dr. Singh said, religion and culture 

functioned in an integrated manner. This was the 

strength of Indian culture. He stressed on the 

immediate need of setting up chairs in universities 

in different countries to foster awareness of Indian 

culture among Indians as well as foreigners to reinforce 

the identity and to generate respect for 

Indians. He appealed to the Indian diaspora to take 

up this mission before the disappearance of the 

ongoing cultural practices among the Indians 

abroad. 

Rathna Kumar, a celebrated Kuchipudi performer 

from U.S., narrated the cultural activities of 

Indians in U.S. based on the performing arts scenario 

and emphasised its role in the formation of 

nationality and identity. She proposed possible 

partnerships between India and the Indians in U.S. 

through the Indian Missions and described the 

magnitude of inter-cultural exercises happening in 

U.S. in the areas of performing arts in which Indian 

performing artistes and forms were making significant 

strides. Such inter-cultural explorations were 

expanding the dimensions of performing arts 

forms with new creative appreciations in a changing 

context, without losing their spirit, but creating 

new foundations for sustenance. 

Abhimanyu Unnuuth extensively narrated the 

nuances of Indian culture and the role of Indian 

language, particularly Hindi, in creating an identity 

and a bridge between India and its diaspora. He 

addressed the audience in Hindi. 

Satyanarayan Maharaj explained how the components 

of Indian culture became an integral part 

of Trinidad’s academic system and how it operated. 

Dato G. Palanivel briefed on how Tamil culture 

was an integral part of his country and how Tamils 

lived in their own cultural environment in a foreign 

country. 

The session ended with the Chair’s concise sum- 

31

Parallel Sessions 

Panelists at the parallel session on ‘Indians in the Gulf’ in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

ming up of the proceedings and vote of thanks. ! 

PARALLEL SESSIONS 

Chair: 

Presentation: 

Keynote Speaker: 

Speakers: 

Parallel I: Indians in the Gulf 

M.M. Hassan, 

Chairman, 

NORKA-ROOTS 

R. K. Singh, 

PGOE, MOIA 

Prof. Binod Khadria, 

NUS, Singapore 

Ali Shabbir Mohd., 

Minister for I&PR 

and Energy, AP 

Abhay Mehta, 

Dubai 

T. K. Jose, 

Kerala 

Suresh Kumar, 

Dubai 

Madhavan, 

Sharjah 

K. Kumar, 

Dubai 

The first parallel session, ‘Indians in the Gulf’, 

was chaired by M.M.Hassan, Chairman, NORKA- 

ROOTS. After giving a brief introduction to the 

proceedings, he invited R.K.Singh, PGOE, MOIA, 

to give his presentation. Singh presented a paper 

on overseas employment. 

Starting with statistics, he said that, by 2020, 

India would be the world’s youngest nation with a 

workforce of 820 million as compared to 400 million 

today. He opined that due to the Middle-East 

oil boom in 1970, overseas employment shifted 

radically, creating vast opportunities mainly for 

unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. 

Talking about the Emigration Act 1983, he pointed 

out that it played an important role in regulating 

emigration and safeguarding the interests of 

Indians abroad. Compulsory registration was to be 

followed by the recruitment agencies (RAs), which 

would bring down the cases of fraud and cheat. He 

also talked about many other regulations that were 

important. He said that a great degree of flexibility 

had come into effect because of the liberalisation 

policy and areas had been identified where there 

was no need for clearance checks. 

He then proposed some liberalised measures 

undertaken by the Ministry: 

! Introduction of Pravasi Bharatiya Bima 

Yojana 2006 with better insurance coverage. 

32





! Coverage to be extended from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh. 

! Starting of pre-departure Orientation 

Programmes for overseas workers with the help of 

State Governments. 

! Issue of smart cards for emigrant workers 

containing all information regarding his/her 

employment and insurance. 

! Providing 24x7 helpline at 13 identified missions. 

! Providing legal aid to overseas workers in 

cases of labour related problems. 

! Involving NGOs as information resource centers 

for providing advice to potential overseas 

workers. 

! Setting up of the Central Manpower Export 

Promotion Council for assigning current requirements 

and projecting future labour needs in foreign 

destinations. 

! Setting up of an Overseas Workers’ Welfare 

Fund either by providing a one-time lump sum 

grant by the Government or by charging a nominal 

amount from the emigrants while granting emigration 

clearance. 

! Initiatives had been taken to chalk out memorandums 

of understanding (MoUs) on manpower 

with Oman and Maldives. 

In the end, he talked about the importance of 

updating the national manpower profile and 

reviewing the skill profile in relation to foreign 

employment demand and enhancing quality and 

certification process. 

Binod Khadria, the keynote speaker, gave a presentation 

on the theme of overseas employment. He 

opined that international migration had risen to the 

top of the global policy agenda but the international 

community had failed to capitalise on the opportunities 

and meet the challenges associated with it. 

In his presentation, he pointed out that there was 

an unwarranted dichotomy between skilled and 

unskilled migrant workers. All of them could legitimately 

form part of ‘essential workers’, as referred 

in the GRIM Report, 2005. 

He talked about the four steps towards an 

untapped powerhouse: generic classification of 

knowledge and service worker; identifying the 

stakeholders; spelling out the supplying and 

receiving country stakes in streamlining the service-worker 

migration from India (here he pointed 

out that low cost labour replacements gave the 

receiving countries the advantage of age, wage and 

vintage); and job-search, job-certification, hedging 

against uncertainties, compensation mechanism, 

return passage (preventive as well as curative). He 

also spoke about a training, certification and 

accreditation hub in South Asia. 

Ali Shabbir Mohd talked about the steps taken by 

the Andhra Pradesh Government for the Indian 

diaspora. He said that his Government now had a 

separate Department for the Indian diaspora on the 

lines of the Kerala model. 

Madhavan, President of the Sharjah Indian 

Association, pointed out that NRIs in the Gulf were 

facing many problems. Talking about the children 

of the NRI families, he wanted the Government to 

reserve some quota in official colleges in India. He 

said NRI families back home too faced a lot of 

problems and the Government should take note of 

these things. He also requested that NRI identity 

cards should be given. 

K. Kumar said that he had spent 35 years of his 

life in Dubai and was working for the cause of the 

Indian community at Dubai. His main concern was 

about the exploitation of women. Another major 

issue that he talked about — and many of the delegates 

during the discussions raised that issue — 

was about the repatriation of human remains. He 

pointed out that nobody was looking at this issue. 

In Dubai, it was being taken care of by the Indian 

Community Welfare Committee, which was just an 

organisation. He also talked about the increasing 

number of deaths and suicide, homesickness and 

unfulfilled dreams of the NRI community in the 

Gulf region. 

There were short presentations by Abhay Mehta, 

T.K. Jose and Suresh Kumar, and most of them 

expressed similar concerns and recommended 

steps for a better engagement. 

In the discussions that followed, there was a lot 

of heated debate on various problems that the NRIs 

in the Gulf faced. Many of the delegates put their 

community and personal experiences in their 

respective country of engagements in the Gulf 

33


region. 

A major issue was the repatriation of the human 

remains of the Hindus, since no cremation is 

allowed in many Gulf countries. They wanted the 

Indian Government to take action in this matter. 

One delegate pointed out that there was no 

Minister to listen to the problems of Gulf-based 

NRIs and take decisions at PBD 2006. Many delegates 

expressed their concern about the education 

of their children in the Gulf. 

Representing the Government, R.K. Singh said 

that, in the coming few months, there would be 

some concrete output that would be visible. He 

cited the smart card as an example. As for the 

absence of any Minister, he referred to the 

Emigration Act, 1983, which gave all powers to the 

PGOE. 

He also said that it was his idea to have a Pravasi 

Bharatiya Bima Yojana and many other measures. 

He also expressed his concern about the problems 

coming from recruitment agencies, adding that he 

would be working on it. 

A representative from State Bank of India gave a 

brief outline of schemes that could be useful for the 

NRIs in the Gulf. She referred to the education 

loans with a six-month grace period, housing 

loans, mortgage loans and other advisory services 

that had been made available. 

Chair: 

Speakers: 

Parallel II: Gender Issues of the Diaspora 

Dr. Girija Vyas, 

National Women Commission 

Dr. Ranjana Kumari, 

Women Power Connect 

Komala Krishnamurthy, 

Ministry of Education, 

Malaysia 

Prof. V.C. Govindraj, 

ISIL 

For the first time in the history of Pravasi 

Bharatiya Divas, a session devoted to gender issues 

of the overseas Indians was organised and it came 

in for great appreciation from all delegates. 

The session started with the presentation of Dr. 

Panelists at the parallel session on ‘Gender Issues of 

the Diaspora’ in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

Ranjana Kumari, in which she dealt with gender 

equity and social concerns of overseas Indians. She 

emphasised that this was the appropriate forum to 

address gender issues of overseas Indians as these 

issues needed to be dealt at two levels — the country 

of residence and the country of origin i.e., India. 

Her presentation addressed three major concerns 

— problems related to marriage of Indian women 

to overseas nationals, problems of overseas Indian 

women in Gulf countries and issues related to 

adoption of children by overseas Indians. 

She flagged various gender related concerns of 

overseas Indians, both social and legal. Issues ranging 

from problems of broken marriages, forged 

identity, dissolution of marriages in overseas 

courts, NRI men deserting their wives, emotional 

distress and generic depression due to alienation 

from Indian culture were addressed in her presentation. 

The legal issues of overseas Indian women 

were very difficult to address as the judiciary did 

not have the authority to pronounce judgment on 

overseas Indian men if they had gone for dissolution 

of the marriage in the country of domicile, Dr. 

Kumari said. 

WPC had taken up this issue with the NCW to 

push the government for passing legislation that 

would help the judiciary to resolve such disputes 

and also provide for extradition of offenders to 

India. Adoption of children by NRIs was another 

area of concern as there was no law governing the 

adoption process by single NRI women/widows 

and this also brought forth matters related to 

ensuring the security of the adopted child. 

Education facilities for such adopted girl children 

was another aspect that needed attention, especial- 

34





ly those in the Gulf countries. She also spoke on 

providing better opportunities to the overseas 

Indian women entrepreneurs as they were among 

the fastest growing working class in the world, 

according to an ILO study. 

WPC and NCW were working together towards 

setting up a special cell that would provide free 

legal assistance and counselling for women and 

also a council to look into issues of social security 

of women married to NRIs, she said. 

Prof. V.C. Govindraj, in his presentation, took the 

same point forward when he pointed to the inadequacies 

in the Indian judicial system in addressing 

the concerns of overseas Indian women. He 

emphasised that the Indian judicial system was yet 

to rise up to the needs of women and was biased 

against women in many cases. He said that legal 

reforms submitted to the Ministry were yet to be 

taken up for consideration and he urged the MOIA 

and also the Chair of the session to pursue the matter. 

Komala Krishnamurthy provided a comparative 

analysis of women in India and Indian women in 

Malaysia and pointed out that women in Malaysia 

experienced better gender equality than their counterparts 

back home. Women in Malaysia had better 

access to education and social equality. Malaysia 

ranked 38th in Gender Development Index of the 

UN. However, issues of gender segregation and 

stereotyping in education is evident there as well, 

with most women opting for humanities and arts 

rather than science stream. 

Indian women in Malaysia, however, did not 

have adequate representation in governance and 

the Malaysian Indian Congress was making a concerted 

effort to reduce the disparity, she said. 

SUGGESTIONS 

The following suggestions were made: 

! More representation of women from the different 

diaspora countries at PBD. 

! The need to register all NRI and OI marriages. 

! Including men in every discussion on gender. 

Responding to the queries, Dr. Girija Vyas said 

that NCW was working hard to secure 33 percent 

reservation for women in the Indian Parliament 

and a Sexual Assault Bill would also be placed on 

the floor for approval soon. The laws relating to 

rape were also being taken up for reform. The 

Chairperson also hoped that, by the next PBD, 

there would be gender committees set up in each 

country that could look into the problems of 

women there. 

The meeting ended with an appeal from the 

Chair to civil society organisations, media and all 

other sections of the public to join hands in the 

effort and create gender sensitivity. 

IDYP interns at the parallel session on ‘Diaspora Youth’ in 

Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

Chair: 

Presentation: 

Speakers: 

Parallel III: Diaspora Youth 

Madhu Gaud Yashki, 

Member of Parliament and 

Member of Standing 

Committee of MOIA 

Yogeswar Sangwan, 

Deputy Secretary, MOIA 

Yogendra Chowdhury, 

Director, Nehru Yuvak Kendra 

Poonam Ahluwalia, 

Executive Director, 

Education Development 

Centre, Inc, USA 

Ramesh Subramanium, 

Deputy President, 

Malaysian Youth Congress 

Priyanka Patnaik, 

Intern, 3rd IDYP 

Kulvinder Singh, 

35


Intern, 4th IDYP 

Yogeswar Sangwan, Deputy Secretary, MOIA, 

gave a brief introduction of MOIA’s activities. 

Yogendra Choudhry, Director, Nehru Yuvak 

Kendra, gave a detailed presentation about 

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, its objectives, 

activities, programmes and road map for the 

future. 

Poonam Ahluwalia, a social worker from the U.S. 

explained the activities and projects of her organisation 

and stressed the importance of youth in 

social development. She emphasised the importance 

of global partnership for youth development 

and importance of funds for this purpose. She 

invited people to attend the Youth Summit to be 

held in Nairobi, Kenya from September 13 to 16, 

2006. 

Ramesh Subramanium gave a brief introduction 

about youth activities in his country. He said that 

the youth were the agents of change for the future 

and they were the present and future of any country. 

He stressed the importance of starting networking 

for better coordination and communication. 

Priyanka Patnaik, IDYP Intern from Canada, narrated 

her experiences during her visit to India 

along with other participants. She spoke about her 

trips to different places in India, including the 

famed Taj Mahal, rural schools, villages and their 

meeting with the Governor of Uttaranchal and 

President, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. She saw richness 

in Indian culture, food and also business. She 

observed how the media was more often focusing 

on the negative side of India and missing its positives. 

She spoke about the divinity of Ganga and 

their memorable trip to Rishikesh. She was 

emphatic that this programme was the best opportunity 

for youth abroad to visit and learn about 

India. Lauding MOIA for doing fantastic work, she 

said that this experience had come as an eye opener 

for her. She ended with the words “Sare Jahan se 

achcha, Hindustan hamara.” 

Kulvinder Singh, internee from San Francisco, 

said that this programme provided a way for his 

dreams to contribute to India and connect back to 

India, his motherland. Every participant in this 

programme saw India in a unique way, he said. He 

shared his experiences during his visits to different 

parts of India. He observed that Indians were the 

same wherever he went and he was received with 

warmth. India’s engagement with its diaspora must 

expand beyond investment to include films, social 

work and also spiritual subjects. Expressing his 

thanks, he ended with the words, “Mera Bharat 

mahaan.” 

Chairman Madhu Gaud Yeshkhi stressed on the 

importance of youth in the development of India. 

He said that the youth had to be involved and 

engaged in many more ways in the Pravasi 

Bharatiya Divas deliberations. He explained the 

poor situation of schools in many parts of India. 

He said that India was not looking for only money 

but diaspora youth’s help for improvement of the 

programmes. He urged the overseas Indian youth 

to work for India so that India could surpass 

China and added that this could be possible if 

people worked everywhere and not in government 

alone. 

Certificates of participation were distributed to 

the 4th IPDY internees. 

Q&A 

! Venki from Singapore asked about the follow-up 

action from the internees after the programme 

ended. He stressed the importance of 

building long-term relationship with the participants 

by making Yahoo youth groups. A member 

of the audience (from London) emphasised the 

importance of building networks 

! Dr. Mirza Asif from Switzerland shared his 

personal experiences with rural children. He said 

that adopting an Indian village, as he had done 

himself, was a way forward. He also called for 

steps to preserve the rural traditional culture while 

at the same time encouraging rural children 

towards improvement and innovation. 

! A delegate from Malaysia said that MOIA 

should also think what they could do for the diaspora 

and what the diaspora could do in turn. He 

suggested opening a website where one could see 

all the details and programmes including videos or 

36





photos. 

! Dr. Shakeel Ahmed, DG, NYKS, proposed an 

interactive convention of diaspora youth and local 

youth as well as a youth convention featuring 

Indian and overseas Indian youth. 

! Nageswara Rao from Andhra Pradesh said 

that internees should explore rural areas and 

observe local self-government. He was of the view 

that MOIA must select one youth from each State 

and send them out to different countries. This 

would help in fostering mutual understanding of 

each other’s culture and society. 

! Prof. Chandrasekhar Bhat from the 

University of Hyderabad opined that internship 

should include academic session too and this was 

also the view of many interns. 

! One of the internees asked why there were so 

few women in PBD. 

! Another called for making the programme a 

continuous one as this would work as a channel of 

interaction for coming together and working 

together. She said that though she had observed 

the villagers and their poverty, she was helpless 

and could not do anything for them. 

! Pavan Kaushik from Taiwan said that the 

laws and business in India were for rich people 

only, nothing for the poor. 

! Dr. Mirza suggested that an association of 

Indian diaspora youth be created under the leadership 

of Madhu Gaud Yashkhi, chairman of the session. 

Chair: 

Presentation: 

Speakers: 

Parallel IV: Opportunities in Education 

Prof. Y.K. Alagh, 

Vice-Chairman, SPIESR 

Anju Banerjee, 

Chairman, Ed.CIL 

Dr. H.S. Ballal, V.C. MAHE, 

Manipal 

Ramachandaran, 

Director, BITS-UAE, Dubai 

Ravi Seethapathy, 


Institute, Canada 

Panelists at the parallel session on ‘Opportunities in 

Education’ in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

Prof. Y.K. Alagh set the tone for the discussions. 

At the very outset, he stated that emphasis should 

be given both on primary as well as higher education. 

He also highlighted the significant achievements 

made in India in higher education and 

praised the initiatives taken by visionaries of 

Indian independence such as Pandit Jawaharlal 

Nehru. 

In her presentation, Anju Banerjee showed that 

India was always a leader in establishing universities. 

She cited the universities of Taxila and 

Nalanda in the ancient period as examples. But in 

the present context, that edge was not there, she 

said and added that the need of the hour was to 

improve the reach of higher education to different 

clientele. In this regard, she outlined the progress 

made by India in higher education after 

Independence. 

Ed.CIL started operating from 1981 and helped 

in providing admission to courses in engineering, 

technology, and architecture in 18 NIITs, and other 

institutes funded by the Central Government. It 

also helped in offering courses in UG, PG, diploma 

and certificate courses. It had initiated DASA 

(Direct Admission of Students Abroad) Scheme 

under which foreign nationals of Indian origin and 

NRIs who had studied at least for five years abroad 

were eligible. She also talked about the scholarship 

programme for diaspora children proposed by the 

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs under which 

23 countries would be covered and 100 scholarships 

given from the forthcoming academic year. 

MOIA had plans to increase the number to 500 

37


incrementally over a period of five years. These 

scholarships would be awarded for pursuing 

undergraduate courses in both technical and nontechnical 

streams. 

There were plans to establish new educational 

institutions in India and abroad and expand existing 

facilities in higher education. Currently, only 

societies or trusts could establish educational institutions 

on non-profit basis. For this, there was a 

need to get NOC from the State or Central 

Governments and affiliations from the Universities 

or other educational bodies. There was no Act yet 

for establishing private universities under the 

Government of India. However, there were some 

State Governments who had taken a lead and given 

permission for establishment of private universities, 

Banerjee said. 

In order to accelerate the process, GoI was willing 

to bring in changes in statutory provision in 

bodies of higher learning like UGC, AICTE, 

Medical Council of India, etc. to facilitate increasing 

participation of private players in promoting 

higher education. There was a proposal to start an 

exclusive university for PIOs and increase the 

number of seats for the children of the diaspora. 

There was a need to create a select group or task 

force to identify the priority areas and changes 

required for legislation, do more aggressive marketing 

and help develop world-class infrastructure 

in the education sector, she said. 

Prof. Alagh commented that Indian education 

was now in a fairly exciting state. Out of the top 52 

software companies, 32 were Indian. There was 

already a private-public partnership in social and 

infrastructure areas. There was a plan to extend 

this to education. Overseas Indians should grab 

this opportunity, he said. 

Dr. Ramachandran outlined the success story of 

BITS-UAE centre in Dubai as an example of establishing 

institutions of higher learning outside 

India. There was a high appreciation for the quality 

of education imparted by Indian institutions of 

higher learning in UAE. BITS-UAE was sought 

after not only by the NRIs but also by citizens of 

UAE, Pakistan and Bangladesh, besides others. The 

degrees offered by Indian institutions were recognised 

by institutions abroad. 

Dr. H.S. Ballal narrated the success story of MAHE 

and highlighted the vision of its founder, Dr. 

Ramdas Pai, who initiated the movement of private 

participation in education. At present, they had two 

universities with professional colleges including 

engineering and medical. They also had a large networking 

with different institutions across the globe. 

Given a chance, they would like to be partners in 

establishment of an exclusive university for PIOs 

given their experience and wherewithal, he said. 

Ravi Seethapathy pointed out that the drawback 

of Indian higher education was shortage of quality 

teachers. He also felt that there was need to impart 

skills at different levels of education to students, 

and evolve leadership courses at the grassroots, etc. 

He emphasised on the need for developing interdisciplinary 

education, which was a new concept in 

secondary education in Canada and elsewhere. He 

felt that private-public partnership was a way forward 

to augment R&D and this should be given priority. 

He observed that networking and synergy 

were the keys to improve the current situation in 

education. 

The discussions during the question and answer 

session reflected on the need for providing spiritual 

and cultural education, which was the strength 

of India, in educational institutions. As a part of 

this, it was suggested that courses in yoga and spiritual 

lessons should be part of a comprehensive 

curriculum. The Indian educational administration 

did not recognise these courses whereas students 

in U.S. were given certain credits for this. 

Dr. Bikas Sanyal cautioned that higher education 

came under GATT agreement of WTO and India 

should be well prepared to meet its challenges. 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, called for 

efforts to overcome hurdles and remove bottlenecks 

in starting new educational institutions and 

collaborations. In this regard, participants could 

organise groups and come out with suggestions as 

to what the GoI could do to make the process less 

cumbersome and more transparent. The suggestion 

was made in the light of Prime Minister’s suggestion 

of starting an organisation on the lines of 

the British Council. 

38





There was a suggestion from the floor that since 

GoI was short of funds, there was need for complete 

autonomy of higher and technical education. 

As in the case of the industries sector, education 

should also be made free from the licence-quota raj. 

Chair: 

Presentation: 


Speakers: 

Parallel V: Assisted Living 

Dr. Laxminarayan Pandey, 

Chairman, Parliamentary 

Standing Committee 

B.K. Samal, 

LIC Housing Finance Ltd. 

K. Sridhar, 

LIC 

Jiji Thomson, 

NORKA 

P.K.Choudhury, 

MD, ICRA 

The session was chaired by Dr. Laxminarayan 

Pandey, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the 

Standing Committee of MOIA. The first presentation 

was given by B.K. Samal and K. Sridhar of LIC India. 

They highlighted how LIC Care Homes Ltd provided 

support to senior citizens. They also talked about 

the emerging social scenario where the structure of 

the family was changing and creating problem for 

the senior citizens. One of the major challenges that 

senior citizens were facing today was lack of care and 

support from the family. As more and more senior 

citizens were now in need of support from outside 

agencies, there was a need for urgent response from 

individuals and agencies to come forward. 

The presentation highlighted one of the pilot 

projects undertaken by LIC in Bangalore, which 

provided not only shelter to old people but also 

made their living dignified and comfortable. They 

also mentioned that there was a large business 

opportunity in this area as there was a growing 

number of senior citizens demanding support. 

The next presentation was by Jiji Thomson, 

Principal Secretary to Government of Kerala for 

Non-Resident Indians. He mentioned that Kerala 

had the highest ratio of senior citizens needing 

support from outside their family and highlighted 

a number of steps taken by the Kerala Government 

in the last six years. He mentioned that there was 

less family support to old people in urban areas. 

Thomson presented the case of ‘Heritage Village’ 

situated at Mavelikera in Kerala where they had a 

substantial number of old people with children living 

abroad. The residents enjoyed facilities such as 

video conferencing to facilitate family bonding. 

The last presentation was on ‘Risk Mitigation in 

Real Estate’ and it was made by P.K. Choudhury, 

Managing Director of ICRA Ltd. He gave a brief 

introduction about the real estate scenario, its financial 

aspects, clearing facilities, prices, acquisition 

and the grading system that were needed to provide 

quality services. He also mentioned that information 

facilities were available online to stakeholders. He 

mentioned ICRA’s initiative to provide information 

services to the investor, developer and end user, the 

risk factors and the investment potential. 

Choudhury also talked about the grading 

process in the real estate business. There were 

questions related to the rating of land, investment 

in apartments, and insurance by participants. 

Following were some of the important 

suggestions made by the participants: 

! A participant from U.S. mentioned that there 

was a growing number of old people among the 

diaspora who needed old age care. If agencies like 

LIC could start projects in the U.S., U.K. etc., it 

would be a success. This also had business potential 

as countries like the U.S. gave old age pension 

to its senior citizens. 

! Sudhir Jain from U.K. mentioned the need for 

LIC to provide concessional loans to individuals to 

start projects to support old people. 

! A participant working with NHS Health 

Service in London mentioned that there were quite 

a number of senior citizens in the age group of 50- 

60 wanting to spend their last years in India and 

needed improved health service and other facilities. 

! There was a need for an information system 

where Indian people from all parts of world would 

know about old age facilities available in India. The 

difference in lifestyle, viewpoint and ideas of senior 

citizens should also be taken into consideration 

to provide better services. The stigma attached to 

39


old age home should be removed and their stay 

made more creative and enjoyable. 

! Issues related to personnel involved in providing 

services and insurance aspect were also 

raised. 

Parallel VI: Commemorating the Diaspora 

Chair: 

Rao Inderjit Singh, 

MoS for External 

Affairs, GoI 

Presentation: 

Malay Mishra, 

Joint Secretary, MOIA 

Speakers: 

Shundell Prasad, 

Filmmaker from 

Los Angeles 

Premlall Mahadeo, 

Aapravasi Ghat, 

Mauritius 

Deerpalsingh, 

Mahatma Gandhi 

Institute, Mauritius. 

Leela Gujadhur Sarup, 

Author, India 

R. Chander, 

Netherlands 

Dr. M.K.Gautam, 

Vice-Chancellor, 

European Union 

University of West 

& East, Netherlands 

Rajendra Prasad, 

Author, Fiji 

The session began with the initial remarks by Rao 

Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for External 

Affairs, and introduction of speakers. 

Malay Mishra spoke about the origin of MOIA 

following the recommendations of the High-Level 

Committee on Indian Diaspora and its main objectives. 

MOIA aimed essentially to promote commemoration 

of the historical migration of Indians, 

and support promotion of cultural, educational 

and professional ties of the old diasporic communities 

with India. Further, it aimed at facilitating 

collection of documents, books and artifacts concerning 

Indian migrants and supporting ‘tracing of 

roots’ projects undertaken in some states. He 

Panelists at the parallel session on ‘Commemorating the Diaspora’ in 


spoke, in this context, about a pilot project in Ballia 

district undertaken by UPSTDC. 

Shundell Prasad screened a shorter version of her 

film, Once More Removed, which traced the origin of 

her ancestors from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and 

Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. The ancestors first 

moved to Guyana as indentured labour and from 

there to the U.S. Her search was made possible due 

to the availability of records in Guyana. Her film 

showed an overwhelming reception to her when 

she visited her ancestral village in India. 

Premlall Mahadev presented a short film on the 

historical significance of the immigration depot, 

which was earlier called ‘Coolie Ghat’ and rechristened 

as ‘Aapravasi Ghat’ through which half a million 

immigrants entered Mauritius. The 

Government of India had provided support for setting 

up of the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund for preservation 

of the monument. It was the only surviving 

site of immigration depots in the world. Efforts were 

being made by the Mauritius Government to get a 

World Heritage Site status for the Aapravasi Ghat. 

Deerpalsingh talked about the archives and library 

related to Indian labour migration to Mauritius set up 

in the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius with 

support from the Government of India. She mentioned 

that, so far, details of 420,000 indentured workers had 

been collected. The main activities of the institute were 

research, preservation of documents like arrival registers, 

marriage certificates, artifacts and providing assistance 

to those interested in identifying their roots. 

Leela Gujadhur Sarup gave a brief outline about 

her book on Colonial Emigration Acts, which was 

formally released by the chairman. 

R. Chander spoke about projects undertaken by 

Om Media, a media group sponsored by the 

40





Netherlands Government to make films on how 

Indians were doing in former colonies like 

Guedalope, Suriname and Caribbean Islands. He 

made a short presentation about people in 

Martinique and Jamaica and mentioned that there 

was a rejuvenation of Indian identity in these 

islands. He sought the assistance of the 

Government of India in such projects. 

Dr. Gautam said that historical and oral records 

should be preserved besides making efforts to identify 

those Indians who motivated the immigrant 

Indians to preserve Indian cultural values and traditions 

during the British period. Biographies should 

be written and information should be disseminated 

in greater detail about the colonial migration 

process and all the countries to which migration 

took place. He suggested that an international museum 

of Indian diaspora be established in India. The 

old diaspora formation should be introduced in the 

curriculum at the school level, he said and added 

that the Government of India should make efforts 

for creating linkages with all diasporic communities. 

Rajendra Prasad made a brief presentation of his 

book, Tears in Paradise, and pleaded for the support 

of the Government and everybody for the cause 

taken up by him to document the injustice meted 

out to the indentured labour in Fiji. 

The following issues came up for discussion: 

! Whether records of indentured labour in 

Jamaica were available or not 

! Clarification on the term ‘Aapravasi’ 

! Preservation and practice of caste system in 

Mauritius. 

! Neglect of Indians in Kenya and also help 

sought for the return of Indians in Kenya in view of 

the deteriorating situation there. 

! Installation of a plaque at the destroyed site 

of Bhawanipore depot in Kolkata. 

! Publication of the proceedings of the PBD. 

The Chairman summed up the session by appreciating 

the views expressed by the participants 

while sharing their experiences. He said that the 

present century belonged to India and overseas 

Indians should take pride in the culture, heritage 

41

Panel Discussions 

Panelists at the panel 

discussion on ‘Diaspora 

and Political Discourse’ 

in Hyderabad on 

January 9, 2006. 

and achievements of their motherland. ! 

Panel Discussion I: Diaspora & Political Discourse 

Chair: 

Speakers: 

Shashi U. Tripathi, 

Secretary (West), MEA 

Dr. Lenny K. Saith, 


Anil Bachoo, 

Minister of 

Environment and 

National 

Development Unit, 

Mauritius 

George Shiu Raj, 

Minister for Ethnic 

Affairs, Fiji 

Baleswar Agarwal, 

Chairman, Antar 

Rashtriya Sahayog 

Parishad 

Ramakrishna 

Padayachie, 

Deputy Minister of 

Communications, 

South Africa 

Lord Diljit S. Rana, 

U.K. 

Sanjay Puri, 

Chairman, UNSIN 

PAC, U.S. 

Dr. Denison Jayasooria, 

Executive Director, 

Social Strategic 

Foundation, Malaysia 

J.C. Sharma, 

Former Secretary, 

MEA 

The panelists spoke about the political understanding 

of various countries and the role the Indian diaspora 

played in shaping the politics of the respective countries. 

Denison Jayasooria, in his paper, referred to the Malaysian 

Indian Congress, which, he said, was a vehicle for political 

and social empowerment for Malaysian Indians. Indians in 

Malaysia came largely during the colonial period. They were 

a part of the founding members of the independent new 

state. At the birth of the nation, Indians were along side with 

the Malay Muslims and the Chinese community. The 

Malaysian Indian Congress was instrumental in this process. 

There were around two million Indians in 

Malaysia, which constituted eight percent of the 

total population. In the 11 general elections that 

had been held, Indians had participated in all of 

them and done substantially well. In the last six 

general elections, 100 percent of the Malaysian 

Indian Congress representatives were elected and 

out of all Indian representatives, 75 percent came 

from the Malaysian Indian Congress. Currently 

there were 12 Indians, which was 5.5 percent of 

representation in the Malaysian Parliament. 

Jayasooria said that they could not have won without 

the support of Malay Muslims and the Chinese, 

since there was no dominant Indian constituency. In 

as many as 62 parliamentary constituencies, 10 percent 

of the registered voters were of Indian origin. 

He talked about connectivity with India. There 

was mobilisation of Indians, especially plantation 

workers, in Malaysia through the S.C. Bose-led INA. 

Presently there was connectivity with the political 

representatives of the PIOs. In this context, he also 

pointed out that there were lots of discussions about 

recruitment of skilled professionals from India. 

In conclusion, he gave three policy suggestions 

42





where the MOIA could take action and do something 

related to that. Firstly, there should be an effective network 

of younger PIO leaders below 40 years. Secondly, 

there should be a strengthening of network of ministers 

of PIO around the world not only focusing on India but 

on parliamentarians across the world. Thirdly, there 

should be sustainability of the parallel process of PIO 

members of parliament held at PBD 2003. 

Baleswar Agarwal, in his turn, talked about the parliamentarian 

conferences, the first one of which took 

place in November 1998 and which was inaugurated 

by then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The second 

one was inaugurated by the Vice-President 

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Around 300 parliamentarians 

participated in these conferences. It was high 

time for the diaspora to join hands, he said. 

Velupali Raju from Reunion Island started by 

talking about his island country and the geographical 

distance from major cities. He pointed out that 

Reunion had a large Indian population, many coming 

from Pondicherry and erstwhile French territories 

in India as well as traders from Gujarat and 

other parts of India. It was an island with many 

civilisations of the world living together. It had borrowed 

spirituality from India, he said. 

J.C. Sharma, in his speech, opined that the most 

important aspect of the Indian diaspora was its 

dynamics. The diaspora was so varied and different 

that the nature of discourse also was varied. He 

gave the examples of Indians in Fiji, South Africa, 

and Mauritius. He argued that one could not keep 

politics ethnicity-based, otherwise it would lead to 

instability, mutual suspicion, and unrest. Hence, 

the nature of discourse should be made inclusive. 

Finally, he stated that voting rights was a complex 

issue and had to be considered very carefully. 

In the end, after comments from the audience, a 

resolution was passed, which was drafted by the 

South African delegation and read by the Chair, Ms. 

Shashi Uban Tripathi. It read: “We hereby call upon 

all Pravasis, democratic peace loving people in the 

world, and the international agencies, and the social 

forces to give support to this programme of PBD celebrations 

to commemorate the 100 years anniversary 

of Satyagraha. In noting further the philosophy 

of Satyagraha arose from the special experiences of 

Gandhiji in South Africa and India against racism. 

Here we call upon both the Governments and people 

of both India and South Africa to lead this international 

programme of celebration activities to commemorate 

the 100 years of Satyagraha.” 

Panelists at the panel discussion on ‘Reporting on the Diaspora’ in 


Chair: 

Speakers: 

Panel Discussion II: Reporting on the Diaspora 

Dr. Sanjaya Baru, 

Media Adviser to PM 

Paras Ramoutar 

Chidanand Rajghatta 

Sreenath Sreenivasan 

Raju Narisetti 

Ramesh Japra 

Neena Gopal 

Shubha Singh 

The discussion was initiated by Dr. Sanjaya Baru, 

Media Adviser to the Prime Minister. In his opening 

remarks, the Chairman spelt out the interest of 

the MOIA in networking with the people of Indian 

origin through the media. He said that it was 

essential to understand what common interests 

bound the diversities of the Indian diaspora. 

The first speaker, Neena Gopal, a journalist from 

UAE, made a comparison between the media in 

UAE and India. In UAE, the media was 

approached by people having problems, whereas 

in India, the media had to approach people to find 

out their problems. She said that the views of the 

media were taken into account by the UAE 

43

Panel Discussions 

Government in making laws. She pointed out that 

the established stereotype of Indians as manual 

workers had been replaced with the arrival of professionals 

in software etc. She, however, felt the 

need to fight the prevailing Hindu India stereotype 

and the importance of showcasing the diversity. 

At this point, Chidanand Rajghatta intervened, 

suggesting that this stereotype was now changing. 

He referred to the religions of people who were 

holding important positions like A.P.J. Abdul 

Kalam, Manmohan Singh, and Sonia Gandhi. The 

Chairman suggested that television would be used 

more effectively to reach out to the diaspora. 

Another panelist, Srinath Srinivasan, referred to 

the nature of media in the earlier days and the 

growth of media in the recent decades. The present 

day generation wanted to know more of what was 

happening. He also talked about the need for 

resources for covering the overseas Indian community 

in the U.S. through a TV channel. 

Ramesh Japra, a publisher, agreed on the need 

for a TV channel for networking with the Indian 

diaspora. He stressed on the need to pool resources 

for producing quality programmes. 

Raju Narisetti called for the creation of a database 

on ethnic media. He mentioned the role being 

played by SAJA (South Asian Journalists 

Association) in encouraging Asian journalists. 

Narisetti said that the Indian media in different 

States catered locally and added that a global effort 

was not a viable proposition. This was because of the 

diversity in the diaspora. Though Indian heritage 

was a binding point, it was difficult to bridge the gap. 

Rajghatta mentioned instances where achievements 

of Indians abroad (like Yella Pragada Subba Rao, who 

discovered tetracycline) were not reported in the 

media. He talked about different streams of diaspora in 

terms of indentured labour, the Gulf diaspora of the 

Seventies, and the professional diaspora of the recent 

decades. He felt that there was scope for networking 

and the PIOs were rediscovering India these days. He 

visualised a future, where the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 

could be held in cyber space and not in any location. 

Paras Ramoutar recalled those days in Trinidad 

where there was limited coverage of the diaspora in 

the media. The situation has changed now with explosion 

of channels. He pointed to the negative projection 

of Indians in the Western media. While highlighting 

the new generation and new trends, he stressed on the 

need to project success stories to unite the diaspora. 

Several participants expressed their views on the possibility 

of starting a TV network and global newspaper 

for the diaspora, having both global and region-specific 

coverage. The potential of the media as a political and 

economic tool was highlighted. The example mentioned 

was the coverage of the previous Pravasi 

Bharatiya Divas on BBC. Others mentioned the positive 

role played by India Abroad magazine. The members 

pointed out that India should not think of the diaspora 

as one block, whereas for the diaspora, India was one. 

There was a broad consensus among participants on 

the need for networking, to create a global federation 

of Indian journalists, to dispel the negative stereotype 

and to project positive aspects and success stories. 

Panel Discussion III: Communal Harmony 

and Secularism 

Chair: 


MOS (IC) 

Speakers: 

Abdul Raouf Bundhun, 

Vice-President, 

Mauritius 

Justice A.M. Ebrahim, 

Zimbabwe 

Shrikumar Poddar, 

U.S. 

George Abraham, 

Founder, National 

Coordinator of 

NRIs for Secular 

and Harmonious 

India, U.S. 

Nirmala Deshpande, 

Member, Rajya Sabha 

The session was chaired by Oscar Fernandes, 

Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs. In his 

welcome address, he stressed on the significance of 

communal harmony in a multi-linguistic and 

multi-religious nation like India. 

The first speaker, Abdul Raouf Bundhun, Vice- 

President of Mauritius, stressed on the need to unify 

44





Panelists at the panel discussion on ‘Communal Harmony & 

Secularism’ in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

the secular nations of the world. In his view, India’s 

diversity made it the best suited to lead global efforts 

in bringing about communal harmony and peace. 

Citing the two alternative definitions of secularism 

suggested by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen — 

tolerance of all religions by the State and distancing 

of the State from all religions — the speaker indicated 

India’s adherence to the first one. 

Speaking of experiences of PIOs in Mauritius, 

Raouf observed that ironical as it was, the Indians in 

his country had turned adversity into advantage by 

securing the status of representatives of minority 

groups. He praised the Mauritian administration for 

instituting the National Unity Awards in that country. 

The second speaker, Justice A.M. Ebrahim from 

Zimbabwe, opined that emphasis on national identity 

and integrity, rather than religious affiliations, 

was desirable to promote secularism. He praised 

the Hindi film actor Shah Rukh Khan for having 

made provision for Hindu, Islamic and Christian 

ways of worship at his residence. 

In his speech, Shrikumar Poddar cautioned the 

media to abstain from identifying a killer as belonging 

to any particular religion, for ‘no religion recommends 

killing of innocent people’. While he conceded 

that ordinary men did not resort to violence, 

he also pointed out that lack of protest by them 

against violence amounted to tacit support. 

Nirmala Deshpande, the well-known follower of 

Acharya Vinoba Bhave, enthralled the audience with 

her thought-provoking and profound socio-ethical 

insights on the issue of communal harmony and secularism. 

She said the answer to the question, ‘Who 

am I’ should be, ‘I am a proud member of a family!’ 

She drew attention to the need to realise that different 

religions were nothing but various alternative ways 

of explaining and understanding the same truth. 

“This not only had to be grasped by us but also 

needed to be lived in our lives,” she said. She mentioned 

the exemplary King Ashoka’s nobility in 

regarding himself as a secular ruler, though he was a 

Buddhist and preached it in his personal capacity. 

Citing a few more glorious instances of religious tolerance, 

she recalled that great rulers like the Nizam of 

Hyderabad used to arrange Ram Vivah at 

Bhadrachalam and the great Chhatrapati Shivaji had 

provided for mosques for his Muslim administrators. 

In his closing remarks, Oscar Fernandes, the 

Chair of the session, made two very pertinent comments. 

He pointed out that India’s commitment to 

secularism was borne out by the fact that, despite 

partition of the country by the British on religious 

grounds, India had chosen to be a secular State. He 

also rightly cautioned that peace was a pre-requi- 

45


Vijay Mahajan, Chairman, BASIX, left, and Devesh Kapur, Professor, Univeristy of Texas, at the plenary session on ‘Diaspora Philanthrophy’ in 


site for development. ! 

PLENARY VII 

DIASPORA PHILANTHROPY 

Chair: 



Speakers: 

Vijay Mahajan, 

Chairman, BASIX, Hyderabad 



Prof. Devesh Kapur, 

Professor, University of Texas 

Venkat Krishnan N., 

Give Foundation, India 

Rajish Lutchman, 

Aryan Benevolent Home Council, 

South Africa 

Ingrid Srinath, 

CRY 

D.S. Misra, 

Joint Secretary, MHA 

Bhami Chennoy, 

Editor, Catalyst 

The session was presided by Vijay Mahajan. 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, introduced 

the theme saying that many overseas Indians and 

Indian professionals were working in rural development 

sector, voluntary sector or philanthropy 

and hence it was necessary to devise a separate session 

for it. Larger issues would be aired out while 

each of these issues might require a stand-alone 

workshop at a later stage, he said. 

One of the most contentious issues was about 

how foreign contribution to India needed to be regulated 

and what were the positive changes needed 

to be brought out. 

At the outset, the Chair said that one needed to 

combine the experiences of practitioners of India 

and overseas Indians. Diasporic philanthropy was 

contributing to India in different ways. It was not 

remittances that count as philanthropy but all 

kinds of work, which was community based, he 

said. 

Prof. Devesh Kapur tried to explain the broader 

political economy of philanthropy. He said that 

there were three main areas that philanthropy 

work got channelised into: education, religion and 

extension work (including calamity relief work). 

Remittances were not substitutes but components 

46





of philanthropy. He tried to compare the non- 

Indian philanthropists’ work with that of Indian 

American philanthropists and said both of them 

focused on education, and religion. If 0.1 percent of 

household income was spent for philanthropic 

work by the diasporic community, it would amount 

to Rs. 100 crore, he pointed out. Money was only 

one aspect but the frustration was about the huge 

documentation that FCRA still requires. Most of the 

money was intended to be spent on primary education 

and health. In terms of religion, lots of money 

was spent on repair of temples and mosques but 

one needed to try and persuade them to change the 

content towards health and education. 

Bhami Chennoy, Editor of Catalyst, said that there 

were all kinds of NGOs, good and bad. Nowadays, 

he said, there was a perception that to be associated 

with NGOs meant that one is with bad people. 

There was need for a paradigm shift. In fact, NGOs 

should be managed like profit organisations. These 

need fundamental research in identifying the critical 

factors and provide support in education, energy, 

water, food security, governance. He talked 

about developing NGO performance indicators 

and engaging the diaspora by building a philanthropy 

market place. 

“How can a sponsor pick up the information 

For instance, how can a child (needy) be chosen if 

someone wants to pay for his education Issue is, 

how do we bring them together” 

Chennoy said that basic things like choice, convenience 

and confidence for the philanthropists 

should be provided. He said one needed to think 

of philanthropy exchange, non-profit database, 

non-profit self-regulation and also ratings that 

could be authentically provided. 

Rajish Lutchman from South Africa provided a 

brief note on a successful philanthropic model that 

had been implemented. There was phenomenal 

contribution made by overseas Indians, he said. In 

line with Swami Dayanand’s teachings, these philanthropic 

activities were organised for aged, disabled 

and children. In addition, there were several 

community programmes, HIV/AIDS support programmes 

and meal donor clubs. 

Ingrid Srinath, in her presentation, mentioned 

that although it was proclaimed by one and all that 

every child should go to school, no child should go 

hungry and everybody should be healthy, yet after 

57 years of Indian Independence, the problem persisted. 

She effectively articulated the bright and 

dark side of India in terms of rich and poor, growing 

disparity, gender discrimination etc. She also 

narrated case studies from CRY experiences in 

Uttar Pradesh. She talked about how growth without 

justice was unsustainable. 

She spoke about how secularism and non-violence 

should form part of any philanthropic or voluntary 

work. She also highlighted CRY activities 

for the betterment of children. 

J.S. Mishra, Joint Secretary, MHA, explained 

about the fundamental premises of FCRA and its 

47

Roundtable 2 

regulatory framework. ! 

ROUND TABLE II 

INDIA: ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE 

Chair: 

Speaker: 

Suresh Prabhu, 

Member of 

Parliament 

Roopa Purushottam, 

Goldman Sachs 

Roopa Purushothaman presented the BRIC report, 

which focused on a dramatically different global economy. 

The objective of the report was to understand 

shifts in global spending power and foresaw a 50-year 

roadmap of growth and incomes. 

It further mentioned that the BRIC economies (Brazil, 

Russia, India and China) could be larger than the G6 in 

USD terms in less than 40 years while China could 

overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy in a little 

over 30 years. Of the current G6, only the U.S. and 

Japan might be among the six largest economies in 

2050. She said that new demand from the BRIC 

economies could rival the current G6 within a decade 

and dwarf it by 2050. However, individuals in BRIC are 

still likely to be poorer on average than individuals in 

the G6 economies, except in Russia. Therefore, she suggested 

that there was a need for some basic conditions. 

These were sound and stable macroeconomic policies, 

strong political institutions, openness and high levels of 

education. India had the most work to do in broadening 

education, she reminded. 

While looking at the investment scenario, 

Purushottam mentioned that in India, trade share was 

low but rising in respect to other BRICs. Though the 

service sector was growing, it would still not solve the 

problem. Even IT share was small. In coming years, 

there could be some positive spillovers, but employment 

would remain an issue. While comparing China 

and India, Purushottam highlighted that there were 

many similarities in both the countries like impressive 

growth performance over the past decade, massive 

labour force potential, strong diasporas to participate in 

economic development. 

However there were also stark contrasts between the 

two — like India focusing on services instead of manufacturing. 

There was also the problem of contrasting 

political structures as well as different approaches to 

investment. India was about 10-15 years behind China 

in the process, she said. 

She summed up the presentation by saying that 

India’s growth rate remained above five percent 

throughout the period. India’s GDP would outstrip that 

of Japan by 2032. Though India’s income per capita in 

2050 would rise to 35 times from the current levels, still 

it would be significantly lower than the other countries. 

Hence, critical issues for sustainable development are 

48


openness, basic education, policy coherence, she said. ! 

PLENARY VIII 

SKILLING INDIA: A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY 

Chair: 

Lt. Gen. (Retd.) S.S. Mehta, Principal Adviser, Confederation of Indian 

Industries (CII), speaking at the plenary session on ‘Skilling India: A 

Window of Opportunity’ in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 


Presentation: 

Dr. J. Geeta Reddy, 

Minister for Major 

Industries, Tourism 

and Sugar, AP 



Lt. Gen (Retd.) 

S.S. Mehta, 

CII 

S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, in his introductory 

remarks, mentioned the objectives of this plenary 

session. MOIA was entrusted with the task of administering 

the Emigration Act. About 10 lakh Indians 

went overseas for employment every year, he said. 

While there was certification of skills for professional 

courses such as medicine, engineering and management, 

the problem arose in respect of semi-skilled and 

unskilled workers. Should India continue to be seen as 

a provider of unskilled /low skilled workers 

“If we take the challenge of repositioning India as 

a skilled workforce, how do we respond to this challenge” 

he asked. This is where the MOIA wished to 

build partnerships to realise the potential for Indian 

people. He then requested Dr. J. Geeta Reddy, 

Minister for Major Industries, Tourism and Sugar, 

Andhra Pradesh, to conduct the proceedings. 

Lt. Gen (Retd.) S.S. Mehta, Principal Adviser, 

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), while 

dwelling on the road map to skilling India, stated that 

the 21st century belonged to Asia. India was on the 

strategic radar of developed and developing world. 

He mentioned that some of the important advantages 

India had were: 

! Demographic advantage (mean average age 

of Indian would be 23.7 years in about 10 years 

from now) 

! Indians spoke English 

! India had a creditable IT image world over 

! Potential surplus population 

! Workforce shortages in developed world 

However, according to Lt. General Mehta, the 

reality check pointed out some challenges India 

would be facing in future: 

! Unemployed people would be about 63 million 

by 2010 

! Large-scale rural-urban migration of Indian 

labour market 

! Proportion of vocational training centers very 

low 

! Current dropout rate from schools was also 

alarmingly high 

In future there were plenty of opportunities in India, 

he said. GoI recently launched a new programme, 

‘Bharat Nirman’, with an outlay of Rs. 1,74,000 crore. 

Provision of electricity to 1,25,000 villages and safe 

drinking water to 55,067 villages in India was a great 

opportunity for skilled workers. Thus India was positioning 

itself as a land of opportunities both for investment 

and employment. There was a need to provide 

skilled workers at the grassroots level. There was a 

need to benchmark Indian skills with global standards. 

Here, the experience and expertise of overseas 

Indians would be useful in investment and in developing 

skills of Indian workforce to global standards. 

Mehta mentioned that MOIA identified CII as partner 

for providing advice in skill development. He 

suggested that the interested overseas Indians could 

interact with CII to chalk out programmes. 

Dr. J. Geeta Reddy, in her address, reinforced the 

point that India was going to have great demographic 

advantage, and it should seize this advantage 

and prepare action plans towards this end. 

India should invest in human capital to make the 

nation the third largest economic force in the world 

in the near future. She emphasised the need to 

establish a ‘Knowledge Network’ to share the expe- 

49

Valedictory 

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam releasing the ‘Special Cover’ on the occasion 

of the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Hyderabad on January 9, 2006. 

rience and expertise of overseas Indians. ! 

The valedictory/award ceremony was 

attended by President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul 

Kalam. Ahmed Kathrada was the Chief 

Guest. Andhra Pradesh Governor Sushil 

Kumar Shinde, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minster Dr. 

Y.S.R. Reddy, MOIA Minister Oscar Fernandes, 

MOIA Secretary S. Krishna Kumar, and FICCI 

President Saroj K Poddar also attended the function. 

The President felicitated the Pravasi Bharatiya 

Samman (PBS) 2006 awardees. This year, 15 Pravasi 

Bharatiya Samman awards were conferred of whom 

11 received the award in person. 

The PBS awardees for 2006 were: Shivnath Rai 

Bajaj, Thailand; Eliahu Bezale, Israel; Abdool Raouf 

Bundhun, Mauritius; Pratima Kale, Philippines; Dr. 

Majid Uddin Kazi, Saudi Arabia; C.K. Menon, 

Qatar; Sir Gulam Kaderbhai Noon, United 

Kingdom; Dr. Sudhir Parikh, U.S.; Yesu Persaud, 

Guyana; V. Ramadoss, Seychelles; Niranjan S. Shah, 

U.S.; Sisupal Rambharos, South Africa; Rusy M. 

Shroff, Hong Kong; Jean-Paul Virapoule, Reunion 

Island; and Fareed Zakaria, U.S. 

Conferring the awards, the President requested 

the winners to let him know how they achieved 

their success so that it could serve as a message for 

the younger generation. On this occasion, a ‘Special 

Cover’ was also released by the President. 

Earlier, MOIA Secretary S. Krishna Kumar welcomed 

the President and said how the President had 

taken great interest in the planning of this event. 

Sushil Kumar Shinde also welcomed the gathering 

and spoke on the importance of this conclave. 

While addressing the august gathering, President 

Kalam congratulated the award winners for their 

contribution in promoting international understanding 

for healthy bilateral relationship between 

the countries and projecting the right image of India 

abroad. He further talked of cultural deprivation 

and the empire of overseas Indians, saying, “Today 

the sun truly cannot set on the empire of the Indian 

minds. Some children of Mother India are always 

working wherever the sun is shining on this planet… 

Every year it is increasing, because they are 

needed.” 

He shared an experience of Prof M.R. Raju, who 

had worked at several high positions in American 

laboratories. He decided to move with his family to 

his village and serve the society with their knowledge 

and wealth. His contribution during the last 

one decade had made a difference to the village, he 

said, while explaining how overseas Indians were 

attracted to Mother India and had the urge to pay 

back their debt. 

“This happens because we belong to the same 

umbilical connectivity whether one is in India or outside,” 

he said. He shared his vision of rural India, 

which could be transformed into an economically 

developed India before 2020. This could happen with 

the transformation of six hundred thousand villages, 

he said. This would need creation of seven thousand 

PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) 

spread in different areas of the country with physical 

connectivity, electronic connectivity, and knowledge 

connectivity leading to economic connectivity. He 

shared some examples of PURAs with delegates. 

In the end, Saroj K. Poddar, President, FICCI, gave 

50

Annexure1: Programme Schedule 

the vote of thanks. ! 

Saturday January 7, 2006 


10.25 a.m.-12.00 Noon 

VENUE: Hyderabad International 

Convention Centre (HICC) 

1030 -1215: Inaugural 

Inauguration of HICC by Hon’ble 

Prime Minster of India 

Lighting of the Lamp 

Invocation 

Welcome by Secretary, MOIA 

Address by Mr. Oscar Fernandes, 

Minister of Overseas Indian 

Affairs 

Address by Dr. Y. Rajasekhara 

Reddy, Chief Minister of 


Special address by the Chief Guest 

Mr. Ahmed Kathrada 

Inaugural address by Dr. 

Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble 

Prime Minister of India 

Presentation of OCI documents 

Release of MOIA newsletter 

Vote of thanks by Mr. Saroj K. 

Poddar, President, FICCI 

1215-1330: Distribution of Delegate Kits 

1230-1330: Lunch 

1230-1330: Round Table I “India: The 

Knowledge Powerhouse” 

Chair: Secretary (MOIA) 

Speaker: Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney, 

USA 

1330-1530 Plenary I “Defining a Diaspora 

Agenda” 

Chair: Mr.Oscar Fernandes, 

MOS (IC) 

Opening Remarks: Secretary, 

MOIA 

Speakers: Prof. Sunil Khilnani 

Prof. Devesh Kapur 

Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu 

Dr. Prem Misir 

Mr. Lalit Mansingh 

Q & A 

Summing Up & Way Forward: 

Secretary MOIA 

1530-1545: Coffee/Tea break 

1545-1700: Plenary II “Diaspora 

Collaboration in Healthcare” 

Chair: Mr.Oscar Fernandes, 

MOS (IC 


MOIA 

Speakers: Dr Vijay Koli 

Dr. Balasubramanian 

Dr. P.S.Sugathan 

Dr. Balaji Sadasivan 

Q & A 

Address by the Chair 

Summing Up and Way Forward: 


1700-1715: Signing of MOU between MOIA 

and AAPI 

1730-1830: Plenary III “Remittance Services” 

Chair: Mr. Oscar Fernandes, MOS 

(IC) 

Guest of Honour: Mr. P. 

Chidambaram, Finance Minister 


MOIA 

Presentation: Dr. P. J. Nayak, 

Chairman, 

UTI Bank 

Launch & address by 

Finance Minister 

1930-2100: Cultural Programme, 

Sanjeevayya Park, 

Necklace Road, Hyderabad 

2100: Cocktails & Dinner 

DAY 2 

Sunday January 8, 2006 

Interactive Session with States 

Venue: HICC 

9.30 A.M.-1.00 P.M. 

51


0930-1100: Plenary IV “Interactive session 

with States” 

Chair: Mr. Montek Singh 

Ahluwalia, Dy.Chairman, Planning 

Commission 

Opening Remarks by the Chair 

Presentation by Dr. Amit Mitra 

Response of Chief Ministers: 


Bihar 

Gujarat 

Jammu & Kashmir 

Karnataka 

Kerala 


1115-1300: Response of Chief Ministers: 

Maharashtra 

Punjab 

Rajasthan 

Tamil Nadu 

West Bengal 

Q&A 

Summing Up & Way Forward 

1300-1400: Lunch 

1400-1500: Parallel Sessions with States 


1530-1700: Plenary V “Diaspora Knowledge 

Network” 

Chair: Mr. Montek Singh 

Ahluwalia 


MOIA. 

Speakers: 

Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan, ADG, 

UNESCO 

Mr. Steve Glovinski 

Mr. Alok Srivastava 

Mr. Ravi Seethapathy 

Dr. N.S. Rajendaran 

Mr. Ramlinga Raju 

Q&A 

Summing Up and Way Forward 

1700-1830: Plenary VI “Diaspora and 

Culture” 

Chair: Mr. Jaipal Reddy, Minster 

for Culture and Urban Development 


Mr. S. Krishna Kumar, 



Dr. Karan Singh, President, ICCR 

Speakers: 

Ms. Rathna Kumar 

Mr. Abhimanyu Unnuth 

Mr. Satnarayan Maharaj 

Hon’ble Dato G.Palanivel 

Q & A 


1930-2100: Cultural Programme, 

NTR Gardens, Necklace Road, 

Hyderabad 

2100: Cocktails & Dinner 

Monday January 9, 2006 

Parallel Sessions & Panel Discussions 

9.30-11.30 a.m. 

Venue: HICC 

0930-1130: Parallel Sessions 

Parallel I “Indians in the Gulf” 

Chair: Mr. M.M. Hassan, 

Chairman, NORKA-ROOTS 

Presentation: Mr. R. K. Singh, 

PGOE- MOIA 

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Binod 

Khadria 

Speakers: Mr. Ali Shabbir Mohd., 

Minister for I&PR and Energy, 

Govt of AP 

Mr. Abhay Mehta 

Mr. T. K. Jose 

Mr. Suresh Kumar 

Mr. Madhavan 

Mr. K. Kumar 

Q & A 


Parallel II “Gender Issues of the 

Diaspora” 

Chair: Smt. Girija Vyas, 

Chairperson, National 

52





Commission for Women 

Presentation: Dr. Ranjana Kumari, 

President, Women Power Connect 

Speakers: Mrs. Shanta Sinha 

Prof. V. C. Govindraj 

Hon’ble Ms. Komala Krishnamoorty 

Q & A 


Parallel III - “Diaspora Youth” 

Chair: Mr. Madhu Gaud Yashki, 

Member of Parliament and 

Member of Standing Committee of 

MOIA 

Presentation: Mr. Yogeshwar 

Sangwan, Deputy Secretary, MOIA 

Speakers: Mr. Yogendra 

Chowdhury 

Ms. Poonam Ahluwalia 

Hon’ble Ramesh Subramanium 

Ms. Priyanka Patnaik 

Kulwinder Singh 

Q & A 


Parallel IV — “Opportunities in 

Education” 

Chair: Prof. Y. K. Alagh, Vice 

Chairman, SPIESR 

Presentation: Ms. Anju Banerjee, 

Chairman, EdCIL 

Speakers: Sunil Kumar 

Dr. H.S. Ballal 

Mr. Ramachandaran 

Ravi Seethapathy 

Keynote Address 

Q & A 


Parallel V — “Assisted Living” 

Chair: Dr. Laxminarayan Pandey, 

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing 

Committee 

Presentation: Mr. B.K. Samal, LIC 

Housing Finance Ltd. 

Keynote Speaker: K. Sridhar, LIC 

Speakers: Mr. Jiji Thomson 

Mr. P.K.Choudhary-MD, ICRA 

Q & A 

Summing Up and Way Forward. 

Parallel VI: “Commemorating the 

Diaspora” 

Chair: Mr. Rao Inderjit Singh, MOS 

for External Affairs 

Presentation: Mr. Malay Mishra, 

Joint Secretary, MOIA 

Speakers: Ms. Shundell Prasad 

Mr. Mahadeo & Mrs. Deerpalsingh 

Launch of Book, “Colonial 

Emigration Acts” By Ms. Leela 

Gujadhur Sarup. 

Ms. Leela Gujadhur Sarup 

Mr. R. Chander, Netherlands 

Dr. M.K.Gautam, Netherlands 

Launch of Book “Tears in 

Paradise” by Mr. Rajendra Prasad 

Mr. Rajendra Prasad 

Q&A 


Panel Discussion I -”Diaspora & 

Political Discourse” 

Chair: Mrs Shashi U. Tripathi, 

Secretary (West) MEA 

Speakers: 

Dr. Lenny K. Saith 

Mr. Anil Bachoo 

Mr. Geroge Shiu Raj 

Mr. Baleswar Agarwal 

Mr. Ramakrishna Padayachie 

Lord Diljit S. Rana 

Mr. Sanjay Puri 

Dr. Denison Jayasooria 

Mr. J.C. Sharma 

Summing up by the Chair 

Panel Discussion II - “Reporting 

on the Diaspora” 

Chair: Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Media 

Adviser to PM 

Speakers: Mr. Paras Ramoutar 

Mr. Chidanand Rajghatta 

Mr. Sreenath Sreenivasan 

Mr. Raju Narisetti 

Mr. Ramesh Japra 

Ms. Neena Gopal 


Panel Discussion III -“Communal 

Harmony & Secularism” 

Chair: Mr. Oscar Fernandes 

MOS (IC) 

Speakers: Mr. Abdul Raouf 

Bundhun 

Justice A. M. Ebrahim 

Mr. Shrikumar Poddar 

53


Mr. George Abraham 

Ms. Nirmala Deshpande 


1130-1200: Coffee/ Tea break 

1200-1330: Plenary VII “Diaspora 

Philanthropy” 

Chair: Mr. Vijay Mahajan, 

Chairman, BASIX- Hyderabad 


MOIA 

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Devesh 

Kapur 

Speakers: Mr. Venkat Krishnan N. 

Mr. Rajish Lutchman 

Ms. Ingrid Srinath 

Mr. D S Misra 

Release of ‘Catalyst’, magazine of 

the Association for Human 

Development, New York 

Address by the Chair 

Q & A 


1330-1430 : Lunch 

1330-1430: Round Table II “India: The 

Economic Powerhouse” 

Chair: Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Member 

of Parliament 

Speaker: Ms. Roopa Purushottam, 

Goldman Sachs 

1430-1530: Plenary VIII: “Skilling India: A 

Window of Opportunity” 

Chair: Dr. Mrs. Geeta Reddy J, 

Minister for Major Industries, 

Tourism and Sugar, 

Government of A.P. 

Opening Remarks: Mr. S. Krishna 

Kumar, Secretary, MOIA 

Presentation: Lt. Gen (Retd.) S.S. 

Mehta, CII 

Q & A 


Monday January 9, 2006 

Conferment of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 

Awards & Valedictory Session 

1715 - 1900 hrs. 

Venue: HICC 

1715: Seating of Guests 

1730: Arrival of Rashtrapatiji 

1730-1745: Invocation 

1745-1750: Welcome, Secretary, MOIA 

1750-1810: Citation & Awards 

1810-1815: Remarks by two Award Winners 

1815-1820: Release of PBD first day 

cover by Rashtrapatiji 

1820-1830: Address by Shri Sunil 

Kumar Shinde, Governor, 


1830-1850: Address by Rashtrapatiji 

1850-1855: Votes of Thanks by Mr. 

Saroj K. Poddar, FICCI 

54

Annexure 2: What Delegates Said 

1.SHIV RAJ, Minister from Fiji, said that education 

of each and every individual Indian throughout the 

country and throughout the world is needed and 

PBD can be a good platform for facilitating such 

thought through the Diaspora Knowledge 

Network. 

2. JAMSHED. J. J. PARDIWALLA, Chairman, Seychelles 

Chapter, NRI Institute was of the view that regional 

meets should be organised overseas but the main 

event on lesser scale (quality based than quantity 

based) should be in India, though alternatively in 

the Centre and the States. 

3. NARENDER, a health consultant delegate, said that 

the Ministry could make the areas of knowledge sharing 

and linkages the way the Ministry would like to 

establish linkage but they have to be informed to the 

people of Indian origin. At various levels people are 

not aware of the developments and activities at the 

Ministry level, he pointed out and added that, probably, 

this could be a reason for their unwillingness to 

identify with the Ministry. People are a little sceptical 

of these linkages because they are not aware of possible 

ways in which this gets materialised, he said. The 

limitations are many on part of the Ministry. At foremost, 

the Ministry should make its stands visible, 

existence little dynamic. May be a ‘knowledge network’ 

could be of a great help, he said. 

4. RAGHAVENDRA S. PRASAD, President, Telugu 

North American Association, and also a medical 

doctor, opined that PBD is a very good concept and 

the platform can be used in many ways. He cited 

tourism as an example. The tourists need not be 

foreigners but Indians abroad also. Though the 

PBD was poorly advertised this year, it was a great 

initiative, he said. 

5. PREM MISIR, PRO-CHANCELLOR, Guyana 

University, said that there should be research on 

the cultural roots and cultural exchange should be 

facilitated. PBD can be a good platform to initiate 

it, he said. 

6. CHARY L. CHIGURALA, a commercial strategist 

based in Australia, opined that PBD is something 

that the overseas Indians are very positive about and 

it should be organised alternatively in India and 

overseas. He said he was willing to coordinate and 

organise in case such an event is held in Australia. 

7. IMTIAZ MUQBIL, an NRI journalist from Thailand, 

opined that sharing of knowledge will be a useful 

source of linkage with the home country and setting 

up proper information and communication channels 

for two way flow will be a great step forward. 

8. SRIRAMA SHETTY, a consultant and general physician, 

said that MOIA need to establish a ‘think 

tank’ building members from major countries like 

U.S.A., U.K., Australia and other countries. 

9. N.S. RAJENDDRAN said that PBD was a very 

good platform across the world. But, he said, 

still a lot of things needed to be done because. A 

lot of talk has been going on from last year and 

now, he said and added that he would like to see 

at least some of these things getting transformed 

into action. 

55

Annexure 3: List of Speakers 

1. DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM 

President 

President House 

New Delhi 

Email: presidentofIndia@nic.in 

2. DR. MANMOHAN SINGH, 

Prime Minister 

South Block 

Raisina Hill 

New Delhi-110011 

Tel: 91-11-23012312 

Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 

91-11-23016857 

3. OSCAR FERNANDES, 

Minister of State (IC) for Overseas 

Indian Affairs 

9th Floor 

Akbar Bhawan 


4. S. KRISHNA KUMAR 

Secretary, Ministry of Overseas 

Indian Affairs 

9th Floor 

Akbar Bhawan 

New Delhi 110021 

Tel: 011-24197900 

Fax: 011-24674140 

5. DR. Y.S.R. REDDY 

Chief Minster, Andhra Pradesh 

‘C’ Block, 4th Floor 

AP Secretariat 

Hyderabad 


Phone: 

040-23456698/23451805/ 

23455205 (O) 

(212) 23410333, 23410555, 

23410666 (R) 

Email: cmap@ap.gov.in 

6. AHMED KATHRADA 

C/o ANC Department of Public 

Relations 

51, Plein Street 

Johannesburg 

South Africa 

Tel : (011) 330-7201 / 330-7392 

7. SAROJ KUMAR PODDAR 

President, FICCI 

Federation House, Tansen Marg 

New Delhi -110001 

Tel: 011-23738760-70 

Fax: 011-23721504, 23320714 

E-mail: ficci@ficci.com 

8. PROF SUNIL KHILNANI 

1619, Massachusutes Avenue 

NW Washington DC 

20036-2213 

Phone: 202-663-5957 

Fax: 202-663-5769 

Email: khilanani@jhu.edu 

9.PROF DEVESH KAPUR 

The University of Texas at Austin 

Department of Government 

1 University Station A1800 

Austin, TX 78712-0119 

Phone: 512-232-1676 (O) 

Mobile: 512-466-5803 

Email: dkapur@mail.la.utexas.edu 

10. DR. PREM MISIR 

Office of the Pro-Chancellor 

University of Guyana 

University House 

½ Pere Street Subryanville, 

Georgetown 

Guyana 

Tel: 592-223-3243, 

Fax: 592-223-3234 

Email: 

ugprochancellor.edu@@gmal.com 

11. DATO SERI S. SAMY VELLU 

Minister of Works 

Kementerian Kerja Raya, Pejabat 

Menteri 

Kompleks Baru 

Block A Tingkat 5 

Jalan Sultan Salahuddin 

50580 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Tel : 03-27714002 

Fax : 03-27116361 

12. LALIT MANSINGH 

N-38, Panchsheel Park 


Tel: 011-26497494 

Email: lalitmansingh@yahoo.com 

13. DR. VIJAY KOLI 

President, AAPI 

660 SW Military Drive, Suite E 

San Antonio, TX 78221 

Tel: 210-698-0078 (R), 

210-924-5097 (O) 

Fax: 210-924-1116 

Email: vnkoli@msn.com 

14. DR PS SUGATHAN 

PO Box 341, Seri Complex 

BA1779 

Brunei 

Tel: +673 2 423929(R); 

Mobile: +673 8 882984 

Fax: + 673 2 423930 

Email: pandaresugathan@hotmail.com 

15. DR. S. BALASUBRAMANIAM 

716 S. Fairway Lane 

Anaheim Hills 

CA 92807 

Tel: 310 668 3296 (O) 

Email: balamd@juno.com 

16. DR. BALAJI SADASIVAN 

Senior Minister of State 

College of Medicine Building 

16 College Road 

Singapore 169854 

Tel: 6325 9220 

Fax: 6224 1677 

Email: 

balaji_sadasivan@moh.gov.sg 

17. P. CHIDAMBARAM 

Finance Minster 

Ministry of Finance 

Government of India 

18. DR. P J NAYAK 

Chairman, UTI Bank 

6th floor, Maker Towers ‘E’ 

Cuffe Parade 

Colaba 

Mumbai-400005 

Tel: 022-22162261 

19. DR. AMIT MITRA 

Secretary General 

Federation House, Tansen Marg 


Tel: 011-23738760-70 

Fax: 011-23721504, 23320714 

E-mail: ficci@ficci.com 

56





20. MONTEK SINGH AHLUWALIA 

Dy. Chairman, Planning 

Commission 

Parliament Street 

New Delhi -110003 

Tel: 011-23096677 

21. NITISH KUMAR 

Chief Minister, Bihar 

Old Secretariat, 

Patna, Bihar 

Tel: 0612-2223886, 2224784 

Email: cmbihara@bih.nic.in 

22. VILASRAO DESHMUKH 

Chief Minister, Maharastra 

‘Varsha’, Malabar Hills, 

Bhausaheb Hiray Marg 

Mumbai 400006 

23. GULAM NABI AZAD 

Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir 

Civil Secretariat 

Jammu Tavi 180001 

Phone 0191-2546466, 2546766 

Fax: 0191-2545529 

24. OOMEN CHANDY 

Chief Minister, Kerala 

Cliff House, Nanthencode 

Thiruvananthapuram-695003 

Tel: 0471-2333812 2332184 

Fax: 0471-2333489 

Email cmkerala@vsnl.net.in 

25. NARENDER MODI 

Chief Minister, Gujarat 

Chief Minister Niwas, 

Sector 20, 

Gandhinagar, Gujarat 

Tel: 079-3232611-18 

Fax: 079-3222101 

Email: cm@gujaratindia.com 

26. THIRU D. JAYAKUMAR 

Minister for Law & IT, 

Tamil Nadu 

Fort St. George, 

Secretariat 

Government of Tamil Nadu 

Chennai - 600 009 

Tel: 044-25672265 (O), 044- 

24936878 (R) 

Email: itminister@tn.nic.in 

27. AMIT KIRAN DEB 

Principal Secretary, West Bengal 

Writers’ Buildings, 

Kolkata-700 001 

West Bengal 

Tel: (033) 2214 5656 (O), 

2337 1322 (R) 

Fax: 2214 3001 

28. NARPAT SINGH RAJVI 

Minister of Industries, Labour & 

Employment, Rajasthan 

14, Civil Lines, 

Jaipur, Rajasthan 

Tel: 0141-2227673, 2225487 

29. P.G.R. SINDHIA 

Minister of Finance, Industries & 

Infrastructure Development, Civil 

Aviation & Banglore Airport 

Authority Ltd 

Banglore, Karnataka 

Email: idcamin@yahoo.co.uk 

30. DR. ABDUL WAHEED KHAN 

Assistant Director-General for 

Communication and Information, 

UNESCO 

1 rue Miollis 

75732 Paris Cedex 15France 

Tel : (33.1) 45 68 43 20 

Fax : (33.1) 45 68 55 81 

Email : aw.khan@unesco.org 

31. RAVI SEETHAPATHY 


Institute 

57 Kingslake Road, North York, 

Ontario M2J 3E4, Canada 

Tel: 416-410-4782 

Fax: 416-498-6921 

E-mail: ravi.seethapathy@sympatico.ca 

32. STEVE GLOVINSKY, 

UNDP, 

Post Box No. 305955 

Lodhi Estate, 

New Delhi - 110 003, India 

Tel: 91-11-24628877 ext 254 

Fax: 91-11-24627612 

Mobile: 09871598666 

Email: 

Steve.glovinksy@undp.org.in 

33. ALOK SRIVASTAVA 

UNDP, Post Box No. 305955 

Lodhi Estate, 

New Delhi - 110 003, 

India 

Tel: 91-11-24628877 ext 319 

Fax: 91-11-24627612 

34. DR. N. S. RAJENDRAN 

No. 29 Jalan Bernam 11, 

Taman Bernam Baru, 

35900 Tanjong Malim, 

Perak 

Tel: 019-2101702 (Mobile) 

Fax: 605-45833607 

35. JAIPAL REDDY 

Minister forUrban Development 

8, Tees January Marg, 

New Delhi - 110 011, 

India 

Tel: (011) 23016207, 

23793524, 

23792634 

36. DR KARAN SINGH 

“Mansarovar” 

3, Nyaya Marg, 

Chanakyapuri, 

New Delhi - 110 003 , 

India 

Tel: 011-26111744, 2611 5291 

Fax: 011-2687 3171 

37. RATHNA KUMAR 

Director, ANJALI 

Centre for Indian Performing Arts 

2615 Cordes, Sugar Land 

TX77479 

281265 ARTS 

Email: rathan@anjalicenter.org 

38. ABHIMANYU UNNUTH 

39. SATNARAYAN MAHARAJ 

Secretary General, 

Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha 

(SDMS) 

C/o Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College 

Eastern Main Road 

St. Augustine, 

Trinidad, 


Tel: 1 868 6453240 

57


Fax: 1 868 6637131 

Email: bpaper@tstt.net.tt 

40. VIJAY MAHAJAN, 

Managing Director, Basix 

501/502, Nirmal Towers 

Dwarakapuri Colony 

Panjagutta, Hyderabad, 

AP-500 082, 

India 

Tel: 040-5561-8846/ 5563-5461 

91(0)40-2335-0171/2335-0566 

Fax : 91-(0)40-2335-8846 

41. VENKAT KRISHNAN N. 

Director, GIVE Foundation, 

106, Pragati Ind. Estate, 

NM Joshi Marg, 

Mumbai - 400 011 

Maharashtra, India 

Tel: +91-22-3942 6400/01 

42. INGRID SRINATH, 

Director, CRY (Child Relief and 

You) 

189/A, Anand Estate, 

Sane Guruji Marg 

Mumbai - 400011 

Tel: 91(022) 23016294 

Email: ingrid.srinath@crymail.org 

43. DR BHAMY V. SHENOY 

Chief Editor, Catalyst for Human 

Development 

IHFD, Balaji Residency 

12-13-705/10/AB 

GokulnagarTarnaka, 

Hyderabad-500017, AP 

Email: chiefeditor@afhd.org 

44. RAJISH LUTCHMAN 

Chief Executive Director, 

Aryan Benevolent Home 

Council 

P.O. Box 56199, 

Chatsworth 403080 

Arena Park Drive, 

Chatsworth, 4092 

Tel: (031) 4049523 

Mobile: 0837779524 

Email: rl@abh.co.za 

45. D.S. MISHRA, 

Joint Secretary 

(Foreigners Division) 

Ministry of Home Affairs 

Government of India 

Tel: 011-23383075 

46. DR. J. GEETA REDDY 

Minister for Tourism, Sugar and 

Major Industries, Commerce & 

Export Promotion 

Block-D, 1st Floor, Room No-220G 

Hyderabad, AP 

Tel: 040-23453210, 23453211, 

9849908523,9848051322 

47. LT. GEN. (RETD.) S.S. MEHTA, 

PVSM, AVSM and Bar, VSM, 

Principal Adviser, Confederation 

of Indian Industry (CII) Plot 

No.249-F, Sector 18, Phase IV 

Udyog Vihar Gurgaon (Haryana) 

Tel: 0124-4014060 - 67, Ext. 209 

0124- 4014 080/4013 867 

Email: mani@ciionline.org 

48. SURESH PRABHU 

59, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 

Tel: 011-24632131, 9868180560 (M) 

Email: sprabhu@sansad.nic.in 

SPEAKERS FOR ROUND TABLE 

49. DR. MOHANBIR SAWHNEY 

McCormick Tribune Profesor of 

Technology 

Kellogg School of Management 

Donal P. Jacobs Centre 

Room 5245B, 2001, Sheridan Road 

Evanston, Illinois 60208-2001 

Tel: (847)-491-2713 

Fax: (871) 467-5505 

Email: mohans@kellogg. 

northwestern.edu 

50. ROOPA PURUSHOTHAMAN 

1 New York Plaza, 45th Floor 

New York, NY 10004 

Tel: (212) 902 5804 

Email: 

roopa.purushothaman@gs.com 

SPEAKERS FOR PARALLEL SESSIONS 

51. M. M. HASAN 

Chairman, NORKA ROOTS 

Top Floor, Centre Plaza, 

Vazhuthacaud, 

Thiruvananthapuram - 695 014 

Tel : 00-91-471-2332416/2332452 

Fax : 00-91-471-2326263 

52. SHABBIR ALI MOHD 

Minister for Information and 

Public Relation, Energy and Coal 

J block, 2nd Floor, 

Room No-202, 

AP Secretariat 

Hyderabad, 


Tel: 040-23454715 

53. PROF. BINOD KHADRIA 

Zakir Hussain Centre for 

Educational Studies 

Jawaharlal Nehru University 


Phone: 011-26704416 (O) 

26183517 (R) 

Email: bkhadria@yahoo.com 

54. R.K. SINGH, 

PGOE, Ministry of External affairs 

9th Floor, 

Akbar Bhavan 


Tel: 011-24197900 

55. T.K. JOSE 

Principal Secretary 

Government of Kerala 

Thiruvananthapuram, 

Kerala 

56. K. KUMAR 

Convenor, Indian Community 

Welfare Committee 

P.O. Box 737, 

Dubai, UAE 

Mobile: (00971)-50-6565433 

Fax : 00971-4-3934466 

Email: ddubai@emirates.net.ae 

57. M.K. MADHAVAN, 

President, Indian Association, 

Sharjah P.O. Box 2324, 

Sharjah (UAE) 

Tel : (06) 5610845 

Fax : (06)5610805 

Mobile : 050-6464483 

58





58. ABHAY MEHTA 

C/o United Arab Shipping 

Company 

P.O. Box 3636, Safat 

13037, Kuwait 

Tel: 00965-5339906 (O), 

Mobile: 00965-9647328 

E-mail: abhaymht@yahoo.co.uk 

59. DR. GIRIJA VYAS 

Chairperson, National 

Commission for Women 

9 ,Bhai Veer Singh Marg 


60. PROF. V.C. GOVINDRAJ 

Vice-President, 

Indian Society for International 

Law 

V.K. Krishna Menon Bhawan, 

9, Bhagwan Das Marg, 

New Delhi 

Tel: 91-11-23384458/59, 

Fax: 91-11-23383783, 

E-mail: isil@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in 

61. RANJANA KUMARI 

Director, Centre for Social 

Research 

2, Nelson Mandela Marg,Vasant 

Kunj, 

New Delhi-110070, 

India 

Tel: 91-11-26899998, 91-11- 

26125583 

Fax : 91-11-26137823 

Email: info@csrindia.org , 

csr@nda.vsnl.net.in 

62. KOMALA KRISHANAMOORTHY 

Parliament Secretary 

Ministry of Education, Malaysia 

Level 8, Block E8, Parcel E 

Federal Government 

Administrative Centre 

62604 Putrajaya 

Malaysia 

Tel: 03-88846068 

Email: komala@moe.gov.my 

63. DATO G. PALANIVEL, 

Minister for Women and 

Community Development 

Pejabat Timbalan Menteri 

Kementerian Pembangunan 

Wanita, 

Keluarga dan Masyarakat 

Tingkat 23, Menara Tun Ismail 

Mohd. Ali, 

Jalan Raja Laut, 

50582 Kuala Lumpur, 

Malaysia 

Tel: 03-26918857 

Fax: 03-26933330 

64. MADHU GAUD YASHKI 

Member of Parliament 

Flat No. 302 

MLA Quarters 

Panjagutta, 

Hyderabad-500482 

Tel: 040-23417243 

Fax: 040-23417253 

Email: madhu@madhuyaskhi.com 

65. PRIYANKA PATNAIK 

661 Pelican Street 

Ottawa, ON 

K4A 4K5, Canada 

Tel: 613 830 5282 

Mobile: 613 286 9813 

Email: priyanka_patnaik86@hotmail.com 

66. KULVINDER SINGH 

5255 MCK Road 

Aptt # 179 

Sacramento 95823 

California, USA 

67. YOGENDRA CHOUDHURY 

Executive Director 

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghathan 

East Plaza, Indira Gandhi Indoor 

Stadium 

New Delhi-110002, 

Tel: 011-23392542, 

Fax 011-23392539 

Email: ednyks@yahoo.co.in 

68. POONAM AHLUWALIA 

Executive Director 

Education Development Centre Inc 

55 Chopel Street 

Newton MA USA 02458 

Tel: 617-618-2774 

Fax: 617-618-2937 

Email: poonam@yesweb.org 

69. RAMESH SUBRAMANIUM 

Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, 

Pejabat Setiausaha Parlimen 

Kementerian Perumahan dan 

Kerajaan Tempatan 

Aras 4, Blok B Utara, 

Pusat Bandar Damansara, 

50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Tel: 03-20934716 

Fax : 03-20958804 

70. DR. YOGINDER.K.ALAGH 

45 Surdhara, 

Near Door Darshan, 

Thaltej, 

Ahmedabad 380054 

Tel: 079 268599540 26855984 

Fax: 079 26851714 

Email: alagh@icenet.net 

71. ANJU BANERJEE, 

Chairperson and Managing 

Director, Ed Cil, 

Ed.CIL House, 18 A Sector 16-A 

Noida-201 301 

Tel: 0091 120 2515366; 

Fax: 0091 120 2512010; 2515372 

Email: abanerjee@edcil.co.in 

72. DR. H.S. BALLAL 

Vice-Chancellor 

Manipal Academy of Higher 

Education 

Mangalore, 

Karnataka 

Tel : +91 820 2571201 22498(e) 

Fax : +91 820 2570062 

Email : hsballal@manipal.edu 

73. DR. RAMACHANDRAN 

Director, 

BITS Pilani - Dubai Campus 

Building No. 11, 

Dubai Knowledge Village 

P.O. Box No. - 500022 

Dubai, UAE 

Tel: 9714 3664575/3911977 

74. DR. LAXMINARAYAN PANDEY 

Chairman, Standing Committee1, 

Firojshah Road, 

New Delhi 

Tel: 011-23782143, 

Mobile: 9868180248 

59


75. B.K. SAMAL 

LIC Housing Finance Ltd 

Yogakshema, Jeevan Bima Marg 

Mumbai-400021 

76. K. Sridhar 

MD, LIC 

Yogakshema, Jeevan Bima Marg 

Mumbai-400021 

Tel: 022-22028085 

Email: mdks@licindia.com 

77. P.K. CHOUDHARY, 

MD, ICRAMD, ICRA Limited 

7-1-58, Concourse 301 

3rd Floor Opp to Lal Bungalow 

Ameerpet, Hyderabad-500016 

Tel : 040-23735061/ 

23737251 

Fax: 040-23735152 

78. JIJI THOMSON, 

Principal Secretary, 

NORKA 

Govt of Kerala 

Thiruvananthapuram -695001 

Tel: 04712322475 

Email: 

Jiji_thomson@rediffmail.com 

79. RAO INDERJIT SINGH 

Minster of State for External 

Affairs 

Akbar Bhawan, 


80. MALAY MISHRA 

Joint Secretary 

Ministry of Overseas Indian 

Affairs 

9th Floor, Akbar Bhawan 


Tel: 011-24197900 

Fax:011-24674140 

Email: jsds.moia@nic.in 

81. DR. M K GAUTAM 

Leiden University 

P.O. Box 9515, 2300 R-A Leiden, 

Netherlands 

Or 

Van Ledenberchstraat 8, 2334, 

Leiden 

The Netherlands 

Telefax: 0031-(0)71 5155870 

Mobile: 0031- (0) 61 6610573 

Email: 

gautammohan@hotmail.com, 

gautam@atnet.nu 

82. PREMLALL MAHADEO 

Director 

Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund 

4th & 5th Floors, Joonas Building, 

Quay Street, 

Port Louis , Maruitius 

Tel: +230 2410401Fax: 

+230 217 2481 

Email: aapravasi@intnet.mu 

83. S. DEERPALSINGH 

Mahatma Gandhi Institute Moka 

Republic of Mauritius 

Indian Ocean 

Tel: 00 (230) 403 2000 

Fax: 00 (230) 4332235 

E-mail: vkoonjal@Intnet.mu 

(Registrar) 

84. LEELA GUJADHAR SARUP 

216/2A, A.J.C. Bose Road, 

Kolkata - 700 017. 

Tel: 033-22470148 

Fax: 033- 2247-6437. 

Email: sarup@cal.vsnl.net.in 

85. R. CHANDER 

Director, OHM 

Koninginneweg 81217 KX hilversum 

Nederland 

Tel: 31 (0) 35-6260920 

Fax 31 (0) 35-6280843 

Email: r.chander@ohmnet.nl 

86. SHUNDELL PRASAD 

East 243rd. St. 

Bronx, NY 10470 

USA 

Mobile: 917-407-8152 

Email: 

shundellprasad@yahoo.com 

87. RAJENDRA PRASAD 

P.O. Box 84500 

Missey 1008 

Auckland, New Zealand 

Tel: 00649 - 8310295 (O), 

6255740 

SPEAKERS FOR PANEL DISCUSSION 

88. SHASHI U. TRIPATHI 

Secretary (West) 

Ministry of External Affairs 

Akbar Bhawan 


89. J.C. SHARMA, 

Former Secretary 

13, University Road 


Tel: 011-27667028, 27666111 

Mobile:9810976807 

90. DR. LENNY SAITH, 

Ministry of Energy and Energy 

Industries 

Level 9, Riverside Plaza 

Cor. Besson & Piccadilly Streets, 

Trinidad and Tobago 

Tel: 623-6708, 

Fax: 625-0306 

91. ANIL K. BAICHOO, 

Minister of Environment, 

10th Floor, Ken Lee Tower 

Barracks Street 

Port Louis, Mauritius 

Email: abachoo@mail.gov.mu 

92. BALESHWAR AGARWAL, 

Secretary-General, 

Antar Rastriya Sahyog Parishad 

6-M Bhagat Singh Market 


Tel: 011-23364430 

Fax 011-2336-2751 

Email: arspind@del2.vsnl.net.in 

93. GEORGE SHIU RAJ 

Minister of Multi-Ethnic Affairs 

11, Renwyck Road, Prouds 

Building 

GPO Box 18060 

Suva, Fiji 

Tel: (679) 3306269, 3313744, 

Mobile: 9905223 

Email: graj@gvo.net.gov.fj 

94. RADHAKRISHNA L. PADAYACHIE 

Deputy Minister of 

Communication 

First Floor, 120 Plein Street 

60





Cape Town 8001 

South Africa 

Tel: (012) 427 8006, 

(012)427 8005 

Fax:(012)362 6915 

E-mail: regina@doc.gov.za 

95. LORD DILJIT S. RANA 

Consulate General of India 

Andras House 

60 Great Victoria Street 

Belfast, BT @ 7BB UKP 

Tel: 44(0) 2890878787 

Email dsrana@parliament.uk, 

dsrana@andrashouse.co.uk 

96. SANJAY PURI 

Chairman, USINPAC 

1990 M Street, N.W., Suite 450 

Washington, D.C. 20036, 

USA 

Tel: 202-861-1900 

Email: info@usinpac.com 

97. DR. DENISON JAYASOORIA 

Executive Director, Yayasan 

Strategik SosialTingkat 5, 

Menara

Press Coverage 

64




Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

GLOBALLY INDIAN 

PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS 

7-9 January 2006 

Hyderabad 

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs 

www.moia.gov.in 

www.overseasindian.in 

Published by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs 

Design and Production: IANS (www.ians.in)

annual report1-final.qxd - Overseas Indian

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